ROSEAU (Dominica) — There's nothing more uplifting for a country that the potential of their base level sports. Therefore, the Dominica Amateur Basketball Association uses every opportunity available to place their U17 players in the line of fire, against opponents of the highest level. According to them, this team could be elite if there’s continuity.

Next week, the youth squad will travel to the island of Martinique to participate in an invitational tournament against the best clubs in the host nation, as part of the Youth Development Program set forth by DABA President Dunstans Maggie Peters and his staff.

“This is a long-term development plan for the U17. We want to keep this team together and we have a lot of plans for them. We've got coaches coming in from Canada and the United States, we have a program set out for them, and we want to nourish them so that in the next four or five years they turn into a high-quality team. We’ll have an elite team. It’ll be a lengthy process.”

According to the President, they expect to face competitions of a higher level, because the Martinican organization is affiliated to the French Federation of Basketball.

“We expect that Martinique has a very organized program. They're part of France, so we expect players to be of a higher standard than our own. Our players have been playing in the school program. Expectations are high because our level of talent is encouraging,” said Peters.

For Peters, competition — aside from giving continuity to the project — will be a good indicator of DABA’s progress and will allow them to have a more defined direction toward the future.

“Our quality isn't bad at all. We're feeling optimistic with them and we’ll use this tournament to measure where we are, what we need to work on and how we are feeling,” concluded Peters.

DABA recently successfully concluded its school-level tournaments in the U15 category, and the final was won by St. Mary’s Academy against North East Comprehensive School. In the U10 division, Dominica State College were champions in both the female and male categories after defeating Portsmouth Secondary School.

FIBA