CASTRIES (St. Lucia) – The island of St. Lucia has great representation in the NBA of its roots. Toronto Raptors’ Chris Boucher and LA Clippers’ Terance Mann have the power of taking the island’s colors to the next level and, with their example, inspire a new generation of athletes and help develop basketball in their country.

Terance Mann, whose parents are both from St. Lucia, has been outstanding as a player since he was 17 when he was chosen Player of the Year in the state of New Hampshire. The 6’5” shooting guard had a solid collegiate career with Florida State University, from which he graduated with more than 1,200 points, 600 rebounds and 200 assists. Now, at the age of 23, and after an astounding performance in the NBA Summer League as the LA Clippers’ second draft pick, Mann has been very much embraced in the best league of the world for his resiliency and work ethics. In fact, his superstar teammates Paul George and Kawhi Leonard reacted enthusiastically to his signing. According to some media outlets, Mann has stated his availability to represent St. Lucia.

“We're working on establishing the bases (for communication), but to have him represent St. Lucia we'd have to build a stronger team around him,” said to FIBA.basketball Federation President Leslie Collymore regarding the probabilities of having Mann wear the jersey in the future.

Trying to build a better team would probably try to include versatile forward Chris Boucher, who’s in his second year with the Raptors. Boucher’s story is equally impressive. Born in Castries, St. Lucia, the 26-year-old and 6’10” player migrated to Montreal, Canada. After tough teenage years and ups and downs in school-level basketball, Boucher was hired by the University of Oregon, where his career ended too early after injuring his ACL and, eventually, being left out of the NBA Draft.

Since then, Boucher has made the most of every opportunity, even when he was released by the Golden State Warriors in 2017 after signing a two-way contract. Assigned to the G League with Toronto in 2018, the defense/power forward took this as a chance to show his worth and was the first player in history to win the MVP and Defense of the Year in the same season (2019). Consequently, he was signed by the Raptors until 2020.

Boucher was scheduled to hold a summer camp in St. Lucia but, according to President Collymore, he couldn’t attend due to commitments with the Canadian national team.

Following the footsteps of these two athletes, St. Lucia has four other young players overseas with scholarships – 2 men and 2 women.

Joel Polius, who graduated from Vide Bouteille Secondary School in St. Lucia in 2017, is currently in his junior year at the University of Harding in Arkansas, part of the NJCAA. There he averages 12 points and 7 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Jean Pierre Frederick stands out both in basketball and athletics, and this semester started out at State College of Florida.

As for the women, Mia George, the Basketball MVP of the Windward Islands School Games 2019 that was held in Dominica, now wears the uniform of St. Francis Xavier High School, in Canada. Promising 5’10” scorer Ramani Lewis Emmanuel, on the other hand, is on her third year in the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School in Georgia. Lewis was the MVP of the IBF U-18 3x3 Tournament in 2017.

In December, the SLBF will host its U-18 national 3x3 qualifying tournament to the IBF competitions in Guadalupe in 2020.

FIBA