Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) has struck a significant partnership with American company Edison Chouest Offshore and its local subsidiary, G-Boats Guyana. The local group on Tuesday received a hefty figure in sponsorship that will go towards its school-based tournament.
YBG has found major partners as they work their way to hopefully restart the National School Basketball Festival, which has not been played since July 2019, mainly due to the pandemic affecting the restart of the 2020 season.
The festival exposes talents who might have otherwise been overlooked since the festival looks to tackle grassroot basketball at multiple schools throughout the country.
Co-Director at YBG, Chris Bowman, said they are toying with the idea of a possible restart in late July, early August.
However, any notion of such is dependent on the prevailing COVID-19 situation and if schools are open.
In the interim, Bowman said they will work in small groups with schools, who have facilities to set up a process for a potential restart.
“This is not a tournament being launched,” Bowman clarified. “This is just a restart strategy…this year when we do launch a tournament it will be a downsized tournament in the first instance and initially, we are going to be working with schools that have facilities or access to facilities so the tournament becomes more local in this new pandemic era.”
The Co-Director said they will begin to working the teachers and coaches of those schools who have facilities as they begin to start the process of resocialisation.
With regards to the sponsorship, Bowman said when converted to Guyana dollars, it is approximately $1.8 million, which is “significant” in the perspective of the yearly YBG budget, which is about G$10 million.
This latest sponsorship will assist the YBG in commencing the operational aspect of their activities.
Daniel LaFont and Ross Chouest of Edison Chouest Offshore stated they are delighted to partner with YBG given their focus on grassroot development.
LaFont indicated, “We saw that basketball was sort of the lower tier sport; you got the cricket, the soccer, and I have been to field hockey as well and we were like where is the basketball.”
LaFont, who is also involved in basketball coaching, further stated, “This is what we are looking for, something that helps the youth of Guyana, something that helps them develop, something that keeps them focused, something that teaches them more than basketball but teaches them how to be men and women.”
Edison Chouest Offshore is an American Company with a local subsidiary, G-Boats Guyana.
The Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) companies are recognised as the most diverse and dynamic marine transportation solution provider in the world.
ECO provides supply vessels to Oil and Gas operators around the world, including ExxonMobil.
