SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico) - After finishing sixth-place in the recently concluded Centrobasket U17 Women's Championship, the Bahamas national women's program returned home with a good idea of its level and a strategic plan to continue climbing on the international stage.

Although they could only win one of their five scheduled games, the Bahamas put a combination on the court every day that showed great potential for the future, especially when it comes to the first international experience for the bulk of the squad, as well as being a group with good size and excellent athletic ability.

Such was the case of the player Michelle Butler who was among the first ten of the tournaments both in points scored and in rebounds, collecting 11.6pts and 8rbs per game. His teammate Antonicia Moultrie also stood out for the Bahamas, averaging nearly double-double, with nine points and nine rebounds per match.

"The good thing about this team is that they are very young. A lot of them this is their first year playing at this kind of level, "Bahamas coach Varen Adrian Clarke told FIBA.basketball after her final game. "So I'm very proud of their achievements and the way they played. Now we will go home and work on some things because they are still young and have a lot to learn. In general terms throughout the tournament, I think my girls played as best they could. "

The coach stressed that there is much more to do with the program, which needs more opportunities like the Centrobasket to continue gaining experience and expanding its limits.

"They have to develop and grab the basketball game by themselves. I think that at these ages she is still learning the game and that played a very big factor. We face teams that play the full year. Our group of girls did not play for a period of the year in the Bahamas, so I think we did not have enough games for them to get used to this level of competition, "Clarke said.

Although satisfied with the work and effort of her children, Clarke mentioned that the expectations were to reach the round of medals, but she expressed confidence that the experience could be beneficial in the long-term development of the team.

"[We need] more experience, more trips, more exposure," says Clarke. "I think the more they travel to play, the better they are going to play. In general terms in the tournament, we did well but, I think we could have performed better than we did. I believe that this team had a good chance of being in the medals. But it's a learning experience for them and we hope to be back sooner than later. "

Now the action plan for the Bahamas Basketball Federation [BBF] will focus on keeping the group of players together so that the program can be followed up and its cohesion maintained as the nucleus matures. Similarly, coach Clarke emphasized her intention to get new opportunities to play abroad.

"The plan is to keep them together, keep playing. Because in the upper school system there are separate schools. So our job now is to go back and keep them together, playing, traveling, maybe playing games in the AA in the United States or somewhere else to give more games, "said Clarke.

One of the main challenges for this to happen is the lack of new players entering the basketball, girls who are interested in sports at an early age, or at least during their school phase. The Bahamas technique has raised this as a personal mission that will be taking over soon.

"There are challenges at the female level. We have to ask the coaches at the school level to motivate them to play basketball. That is our main challenge, try basketball, love the game and continue because there are many opportunities and scholarships for basketball, but make them interested in sports is a bit strong. So I'm doing the best I can to get back to the school level, starting with the primary and seeing if I can get the girls to come and learn the basketball game."

FIBA