The Cayman Islands’ national men’s and women’s basketball teams that returned home adorned with Island Games medals may soon have reinforcements.
That’s because 58 aspiring young basketball players, ranging in age from six to 16, took to the John Gray High School gymnasium court for the Cayman Islands Department of Sports Annual Summer Basketball Camp, held 24-28 July.
The camp, run by long-time Cayman basketball coach and current camp director Redver Ebanks, saw attendees broken into groups for drills focused on dribbling, ball handling and passing, shooting, rebounding, defence and footwork, and offensive concepts. Following time spent at each of those stations, three-on-three games were set up for practice before full five-a-side games each day.
“In terms of skill level, it was across the spectrum: from kids who have never played before, to boys and girls who play on club teams,” Ebanks said. “Over the week you could see the gradual improvement – obviously you can see it more in the kids who have never played before, because you’re loading them for one week with so much information that they didn’t know.”
Ebanks has been around Cayman Islands basketball for the best part of two decades – first as an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s national teams before serving two stints as the head coach of the national women’s team, most recently until 2018. He is also the founder of the local ‘Women of Valor’ basketball club team.
The majority of the camp’s other coaches, Ebanks said, were current or soon-to-be college students.
Ebanks explained that this camp stems from multi-sport camps that used to run on-island in the 1990s, but which have since branched off into other sports including netball, cricket and swimming.
“One positive feedback was that [the camp participants] were sore!” Ebanks added. “I know that the kids were getting a good workout every day, so that was my positive reinforcement that we were doing something well.”
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