GRAND CAYMAN (Cayman Islands) - Victor ‘Voot’ O’Garro has dedicated most of his life to basketball. He was a professional player in the Dominican Republic and in China and represented the Cayman Islands for a long time. Now, as technical director for the Cayman Islands Basketball Association (CIBA), he’s dedicated to sharing his knowledge with young players and his country's coaches.

O’Garro recently arrived from Greece, where he participated in several camps as part of an exchange between that country and the Cayman Islands. As TD in CIBA, O’Garro oversees the organization of a healthy system of tournaments from development stages until adult categories, and captains the main goal of increasing and developing the sport of basketball to turn it into the most popular in the islands.

“We're seriously focused on developing this sport and that's our main priority,” said O’Garro to FIBA.basketball. “We also know that to be able to develop the sports kids should compete, so we have several tournaments according to age groups so that children can compete with their peers. But we also have different academies on Saturdays, with different coaches that teach in different schools. So now we're strongly focused on development.”

These tournaments include two school events, a U12, and U14 for both sexes. The Association also has U16 and U18 leagues divided by districts, aside from the traditional senior category. O’Garro stated that leagues generally have eight participating teams for each sex and that women teams are more active this year when compared to previous seasons.

Basketball runs in the O’Garro blood. His son, Samuel, is the current captain of the national team that has won the last two editions of the Island Games. His nephew Joshua, also part of the national team, is a high school player in California and is heavily scouted by universities like Stanford, Yale, Wisconsin, Holy Cross, Boston, and Columbia.

Director O’Garro also previewed some of the Association's plans of adopting the 3x3 basketball modality as soon as they have the necessary balls and equipment available. They're also tuning the final details to hold the third edition of the first division Cayman Islands Classic collegiate tournament during the month of November. This year, the competition serves as a way to prepare for the NCAA season and will host the University of Nebraska, the Loyola University Chicago, New Mexico State, University of South Florida, Old Dominion University, Washington State University, George Mason University, and Colorado State University.

FIBA