A Jamaica Under 17 basketball team left the island on Tuesday for the USA to compete in the Marquee Hoops NCAA sanctioned AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) tournament which will take place from July 5-7 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
According to head of delegation Wayne Dawkins, this is an extraordinary milestone for Jamaican basketball as it is the first time that a youth basketball team from Jamaica has been invited to compete in an AAU tournament in America.
The trip was organized by Dawkins of P.H.A.S.E. 1 Academy and technical director/head coach of Jamaica’s Under 17 team. He will be joined by a supportive coaching staff of Dave Black, Phil Edwards and Rohan Ferguson.
The team will use the opportunity to gain valuable development experience as well as help to prepare the selected players who will represent Jamaica in the FIBA Centro Basket Championship in Belize from July 25 to 30.
The fifteen players who will make the trip comprise of P.H.A.S.E. 1 Academy players as well as members of the Jamaica U17 training cohort from the four training regions across the island.
The selected players are: From St. James – Kamau Dennis, Joshua Ferguson, Nathan Thompson, Christian Andom, Gabrielle Scalamana, Alexander Corrodus and Nyle McCalla; from Manchester – Elijah Smeike and Johnathan Beckford; from St. Catherine – Ajani Walters; from Kingston – Shaquayne Elliot, Antoine Daye, Joel Hamm, Zachery Smith and Kyro McCalla.
