Jermaine Slater is new GABA president

Second Lieutenant of the Guyana Defence Force and former national player, Jermaine Slater, will lead the charge for basketball in Georgetown for the next two years, after his slate was elected unopposed at Sunday’s Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) Annual General Meeting and elections at Palm Court.

Slater will have Jermaine Benjamin as his Vice-President, Travis Burnett (Treasurer) and sports journalist Rawle Toney as his Public Relations Officer (PRO). The other executives are Khalil Cave (Secretary) and the association’s Assistant Secretary Treasurer is Lloyd Bart.

Plaisance Guardians, Kobras, Pacesetter, Raven, Sonics, Viking, University of Guyana (UG) Trojans and Eagles were the clubs present at Sunday’s elections. Representatives of Bounty Colts and Nets were not present at the time of the vote.

Slater told the gathering of club officials and basketball enthusiasts after being elected, that the young executives, made up of active club members, have the drive, passion and are all lovers of the game.

According to Slater, basketball plays an important part of his life, and his goal is to see the sport develop, especially in communities outside of the capital that falls within his jurisdiction of management.

Slater pointed out that growing the sport at the community level is critical, noting that the successful forming of the Kobras club last year is testament to grassroots love for the game is still very much alive.

Slater thanked former president Adrian Hooper for his outstanding work done during his tenure, and asked that he continue to work closely with the current executives, sharing his institutional knowledge of the sport, since he served two terms.

Hooper, whose term came to an end last year, opined that the formation of new clubs and having multiple leagues played throughout the year as his administration’s achievements for their time in office.

The outgoing executives also handed over close to $100,000 to the new body in their accounts.

President of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) Michael Singh congratulated the new body on its election and encouraged the executives to work hard to achieve their objective as the largest member of the federation.