The opening day of the 28th Annual Fr. Marcian Peters Basketball Tournament featured 10 of the 16 teams competing for the title in the primary school boys' division. As for the second day of competition, that featured the intermediate boys as action continued at Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium. All divisions will play today and for the remainder of the week. The tournament, which attracts teams from around The Bahamas, is expected to climax on Saturday, December 15. Schools are competing in the primary school boys' and girls' divisions, junior boys and girls, intermediate boys and senior girls.
More than 75 teams have registered to compete in the week-long tournament. All of the teams from the Family Islands will be in New Providence no later than Tuesday. According to organizer Michael 'Scooter' Reid, this is when the games and tournament is expected to heat up. "This tournament brings excitement every year and is something all of the eligible schools look forward to competing in," said Reid. "I am sure that this year's competition is going to be stiff. Over the years we've seen tremendous improvement, even though there was a decline in numbers.
"When this tournament was first started it was designed for junior and senior girls. It was the intention to give them more play, but over the years we've included the other divisions and that made things a bit more exciting. The disappointing part is we experienced a drop off in the number of girls' teams. What we need to do now is get back to the drawing board, find ways in which we can attract the girls teams. We also need to find ways where we can get some more teams to participate." Only six teams will compete in the junior girls' division and six in the senior girls' division.
The primary schools girls' division has five squads. The junior boys' division is the largest this year, with 17 teams, and the intermediate boys, as well as the primary boys have 16 teams each. The first Family Island squad to arrive is the team from Harbour Island. They got into the capital yesterday. North Andros will be in today, and Eleuthera on Tuesday. Exuma and San Salvador are also expected in town late Tuesday, or early Wednesday morning. Reid said the schedule has been adjusted to accommodate the teams, especially those coming in from the Family Islands.
He said: "As organizers we have to respect the fact that teams have to wait until after exams to travel or compete, so, the teams from the Family Islands they will get into town when their exams are finished and when they can get their respective flights. Even though the teams from Nassau don't have to catch a flight, we still have to make space or accommodate them as well. What happens is the schools all finish with exams at different times, so if we can get the ministry to help us with this, that will be good. We need to plan better, have an exams schedule so we can know how to make up our schedule." The elimination round will start on Thursday with the semi-finals on Friday. All championship games will be played on Saturday. The tournament will get underway at 9 a.m. today.
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