The Bahamas men's national basketball team lost the final game of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championship by two points (91-89) over the weekend at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium and had to settle for the silver medal.

It is well though. The big picture is that following decades of erratic performances on the regional scene, officially the country can now claim to be one of the Caribbean's power brokers in basketball. The Bahamian players were steady throughout the competition and did the nation proud. You want to win as the host of course, but it is definitely not a disgrace to end up with silver hardware.

Congratulations to Bahamas Basketball Federation (BBF) President Lawrence Hepburn, his executives and other associates! Hepburn and company ensured that The Bahamas got together a capable group. It has been a tough time for Hepburn. He had a hectic time of it knitting the loose ends. The jury is still very much out regarding whether the BBF will reach a break-even point financially.

Having the CBC here though was significant for the upward basketball movement and huge for sports in general. The Ministry of Youth, Sports & Culture and the Ministry of Tourism have been provided with an excellent affair. The CBC Championships already can be considered a sports/tourism bonanza. Hopefully, the national women will do as well as the men, but whatever happens, success has been achieved and the competitive plank is in place for national basketball to build on.

From a tourism perspective, having so many players, administrators, officials and supporters visiting ought to be sincerely appreciated. Hopefully, the significance of what local basketball has done is duly noted by Minister of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Sports Minister Charles Maynard and Director of Sports/Tourism Tyrone Sawyer.

The presence of the top english-speaking regional teams made the event prestigious indeed. Among the men, The Bahamas can now claim superiority over Jamaica, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Cayman Islands. The task at hand is to remain consistent in the years to come in order to overtake gold medal winner U.S. Virgin Islands and become competitive against the likes of Latin giants Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

I salute the U.S. Virgin Islanders. They came, they played and they conquered. Jamaica rounded out the top three from this competition by beating the British Virgin Islands in the bronze medal game. Finishing fifth was Bermuda, followed by Antigua, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Cayman Islands.

The Centrobasket Championship of 2012 looms for the top three teams. The event is scheduled to take place in Cancun, Mexico next year. That competition will be elevated with the host nation, Puerto Rico and Cuba included. Getting the Bahamian players into camp in preparation for Centrobasket action would be ideal. The BBF should immediately begin reaching out to Corporate Bahamas. Climbing to the point of respectability in the region is one thing. Staying there is even tougher.

(To respond to this column, kindly contact Fred Sturrup at frobertsturrup@gmail.com)

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian