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Coaches of the Barbados Combined Clubs Women’s Team, Terry Inniss (far left) and Denise Alleyne (far right) stand with the ladies that came together to compete against the Rochester Women’s Basketball team.

Inniss: We need to build women’s basketball pool

“We are just not that good... we need to build the pool.” says Terry Inniss, former Girls’ Junior National basketball coach after the Barbados Combined Clubs team were soundly beaten by the University of Rochester Women’s Basketball team, 72-46.

Speaking to The Barbados Advocate after coaching Combined Clubs team, Inniss explained that the Rochester team was a very good and young team which took them apart mainly because they were accustomed to playing tougher competition. He also highlighted the fact that it was out of season for the local ladies and being honest, stated that the local young talent just is not up to scratch.

“Our issue is that we play against one another and we are just not that good. The abilities to do certain things, we have not yet acquired as yet. You would notice that Toni (Atherley) at her age still can play basketball because she played overseas; she played at a higher level. So we need to get our young ladies out at a higher level and let them see what real basketball is about and not just playing against one another in Barbados,” Inniss said

Coach Inniss has applied to coach the junior male national basketball programme and says that his coaching experience and ability to break down movements and plays is better spent at the junior level. However he brought to light the serious concern about women’s basketball inBarbados.

“We are in trouble right now because we only have 36 women playing basketball right now, so we need to build the pool. We need to work on our young people, really coach our young people. We have more qualified coaches in Barbados than we ever had and our players are not any better. It is that our coaches like to slap their chests and say how great they are but you are not seeing it in the players?” Coach Inniss stated.

The coach stressed again that the pool needs to be built and that the youth is the key to producing not just good basketballers but raising the standard of basketball on the island. Admitting that while he had been coaching the girls’ Junior National Team for the last five years, since 2014, the team had only reached as high as fourth place regionally in three tournaments, Inniss said he believed that it was time for someone else to take over the responsibility.

“I think it is time for someone else to take up that mantle and take the girls to another level. We need to get some people overseas. Hopefully we have some young people that colleges overseas are interested in. Once we get people overseas and they start coming back and younger players see that we can also get them overseas – we can build the pool. The girls pool is too shallow. We have to go back and get people in their 30’s deep to come back and play because the young players are not to the level they should be.”

Toni Atherley scored a game high21 in the game and the combo guard, who played Division 1 Collegiate basketball for Fresno State, still remains the main threat on the court for women’s basketball. Young and

upcoming player Tower Lorde showed that she can play with the overseas talent but needs more exposure to the higher level.

Inniss, a former president of the Barbados Amateur Basketball Association, also addressed both junior programmes and believes that more exposure to a higher level of competition is important. He lamented the fact that there are no junior regional tournaments for the young ballers to play in yearly.

“We are fortunate to have some decent basketball juniors, both in the girls’ and the boys’ but we need to build them. They have certain skills but need to get others so they can be consistent and to be good. Right now they are ‘our’ good but not regional or international good,” he added.

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