Two weeks ago, the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium was flooded with National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball fans from the United States that came to watch their teams play in the Bahamas Basketball Federation's (BBF) "Summer of Thunder" tournament.
This year's tournament had a record number of 29 teams participate and received national television coverage from two major networks in the U.S., but despite the success of the event, organizer of the tournament, Sean Bastian, feels that there is much more work to do.
"We are hoping that ESPN will sign a full-time agreement to do all of the games and not just the big ones. This tournament has a lot of potential to bring visitors to these shores, and I feel that the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Ministry of Tourism need to sit down with the federation or myself and see how they can assist. When you look at the 14 teams and what they left economically with the hotels, ground transportation and food, they left about a million dollars here. All this happened in just three weeks, but my goal for the tournament is to have it for three months," said Bastian.
"I also want to take this thing to the Family Islands, so that the young kids there will have a chance to have the same experience. There were a lot of old ball players that came up to me during the 'Summer of Thunder' saying that they wished they had something like this in their time. It's a chance to go up against and rub shoulders with future NBA players and a chance to give our players exposure."
Although several teams have already confirmed their attendance for next year, Bastian has several concerns that could hurt the future of the tournament.
"My main concerns are with the facilities. Kendal Isaacs has bleacher seating, which is not comfortable to watch a game. Secondly, you can't sell a bleacher, but you can sell a seat. There were some other things as well, but in all we just need a new facility. I would really like to connect with one of the ministries and see what we can do," said Bastian.
"I already have new ideas for the tournament but I definitely need the sponsor to ensure that it is done the right way."
The tournament was first introduced in 2009 and only featured one foreign team. Each year since there has been an increase in the amount of teams participating.

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