Jamaicans participate in Children of the World camp

Nodley Wright, Gleaner Writer

Three Jamaicans - two players and a coach - participated in the prestigious Children of the World basketball camp in Istanbul, Turkey.

The trio, Shanice Williams of Holy Childhood, Ajuan Burton of Campion College and coach Lennox Lindo of St Catherine High School, took part in the camp staged in partnership with Turkey's National Basketball Federation and the International Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball globally.

Both bodies decided to host this event parallel to the World Championships, which is taking place in Turkey with countries such as the USA, Spain, France and Puerto Rico participating.

Fourteen year-old Williams who, like Burton, was chosen by the Jamaica Amateur Basketball Association (JaBA), was the youngest player on Jamaica's juvenile team and has been playing the sport since her time at Rollington Town Primary School.

Burton, also 14, was voted Most Valuable Player for under-14 high school basketball and has been one of the standout players in the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association league. Both youngsters have been attendees of the JaBA Star Search camp, where they won awards and caught the eye of national coordinator Elfraito Remikie.

Lindo has worked with the national juvenile programme and has the distinction of coaching at all levels of high school basketball for both genders in the Under-14, Under-16, and Under-19 age-group, and has been tagged as one of the main high talent coaches at the Star Search camp.

The mandate of the Children of the World camp is to expose them to different cultures and also different methodologies of basketball development. Participating children will have to share their experience of basketball in their own countries. Coaches and players participated in daily skills-training activities.

Tours

This Children of the World camp also entailed tours across Instanbul, visiting the World Championship games and participating in building a museum displaying various indigenous items and artefacts from all the countries. A Jamaica national team jersey was also placed at the museum.

The JaBA and its head coordinator, Remikie, expressed pride at the accomplishments of the three ambassadors who had the opportunity to see the world through different lenses, and represent their country and bring back their new-found experience to share and benefit their basketball peers and the country at large.

"I have found that one of the most stabilising and inspiring aspects of the human journey is travelling to foreign lands, meeting new people, experiencing new cultures and languages, and once young people experience that, they change forever, often for the better," said president of JaBA, Ajani Williams.

"I hope they see the diversity of Turkey, the East and West regions, the Christian and the Muslim and come home with eyes wide open ready to grow as people and in basketball."