Daughter feels the pain of coach’s loss

Sports drives passion but also fuels anxiety, and if the coach loses, so does his family.

No one knows that more than Scout Turner, whose father, Rick, is Jamaica’s basketball team’s national head coach.

She was in the stands as Jamaica went down to the Bahamas 93 – 96 during a FIBA Americas World Cup Qualifier at the National Indoor Sports Centre last week and again on Sunday when the team lost to Canada 81 – 97.

On Thursday, the Jamaicans only had themselves to blame for the loss after leading 81-77 at the end of the third quarter. They struggled badly in the final period, committing several turnovers that the Bahamians capitalised on to secure a comeback victory.

On Sunday, Jamaica had a poor shooting performance, knocking down just 34 per cent from the field, sinking 28 of their 82 attempts on the night.

Canada were far more clinical as they shot for 51 per cent, sinking 33 of their 65 attempts, and were particularly rampant beyond the three-point line, scoring 13 of their 26 three-point attempts.

“It was very difficult to watch. I think that myself and pretty much everyone involved with the team really thought they were gonna pull it out. So it was very disappointing, and I could tell that my Dad, he puts on a strong front, but I could tell he was pretty heartbroken about it,” said Scout about the series of losses.

Scout, also a basketball player, was coached by her father in middle and high school in the United States.

“I don’t play anymore, but it was really fun to have him be my coach. It was a little bit of a mixture between coach and dad. We had to find the line you know, ‘I’m not mad with you as your dad. I just have to be your coach right now’.”

Despite the home losses to the Bahamas and Canada, Jamaica still have a chance to advance to the next round of FIBA Americas World Cup qualifiers with six points after four games and lead Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, who have five points each.

The top three teams from the four-team group automatically advance to the second round.

Jamaica will hope for better results to sure up their qualification hopes when they play away to the Bahamas on July 3 and Canada on July 6.