JABA teams up with PHASE 1 for KFC Star Search
Published:Thursday | August 12, 2021 | 12:07 AM
No overseas instructors for star search
Livingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
THE Jamaica Basketball Association (JABA) has formed a partnership with Canadian-based company Potential, Heart, Attitude, Skill, Elite 1 (PHASE 1) to build profiles for the nation’s top high-school basketballers, who are being highlighted for college/university scholarships at the annual KFC Star Search Basketball Camp.
Over 100 players are participating in the camp, which returns after a one-year break due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The camp begun on Monday in Montego Bay, St James, and offers Jamaica’s best juniors an opportunity to hone their skills, while also being scouted for the local and overseas scholarships.
Normally, overseas instructors, who are members of the Jamaica Basketball Development Inc, play both coaching and scouting roles, as they use their connections to fast- track scholarships.
However, for the first time in the camp’s 20 years, there will be no overseas instructors involved due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
President of the Jamaica Basketball Association, Paulton Gordon, said that owing to the fact that they are facing a tougher challenge to acquire United States college scholarships, they joined hands with PHASE 1 to create the profiles.
“Usually, we would have our American instructors, but they aren’t here and that’s why it is essential that we capture the data and package it in a way for potential recruiters, so they can see the qualities and potential that is available,” Gordon explained.
“We have a partnership with a Canadian company. It is a platform where athletes who are participating in the camp will be measured in terms of their biodata, evaluation of their technical skills, and identify any weakness and try to improve on it.
“It is our way to compile information so we can present the data to recruiters from overseas, who are scouting and looking around,” noted Gordon.
“This is the first time we are doing this for all campers and we will follow up from there, and we are certainly expecting a few scholarships,” he stated.
Previously, the camps were held in a residential setting, but coronavirus concerns have also forced a change of plan.
“Instead of trying to do this at G.C. Foster (where the camp was held annually), this year the issues related to a residential camp would have been too difficult to manage. So we decided to spread it out of it across the island,” Gordon informed.
The camps are being supervised by a group of core senior coaches at all three venues, along with others from the different basketball confederations.
“Those are relatively strong conferences and we have representatives in all three parishes, strong coaches and strong school programmes. So now it is really about identifying the youngsters we want to help transition,” Gordon said. “We know we have certain potential, and this is an opportunity for the coaches to look at them and move them to the next level.”