Dominican Republic jumpstarts early U13 talent recruitment

SANTO DOMINGO - The year 2019 has just started and the Dominican Basketball Federation (Fedombal, for its Spanish acronym), in partnership with the Dominican Olympic Committee (Colimbdo, for its Spanish acronym) has initiated its national development plan with a massive camp to identify possible talents in children younger than 13 years. The first stop was in the capital city of Santo Domingo.

The project, whose sessions last up to five hours, hopes to impact at least 80 players born in or before the year 2005, who could potentially be a part of the national team in their international commitments in 2020.

The camps will count on resources like José “Maíta” Mercedes, who directs the Fedomal National Teams Project; Assistant Director Melvyn López, Jonathan Muñoz, and Carlos Montás — all of whom are part of the Dominican technical team.

“The early bird catches the worm,” said Fedomal President Rafael Uribe to a local newspaper. “We're getting ready early and we’ll have all of 2019 to take the national U15 team to Centrobasket 2020. That's how you win the gold medal — with a lot of work and time.”

Uribe also pointed out that the camp will take place in the regions of Santiago, Moca, La Romana, San Francisco de Macorís, La Vega and San Cristóbal.

As this process continues, the senior Dominican Republic team is fighting for a spot to the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.

FIBA