By Neto Baptiste
The Antigua and Barbuda Basketball Association (ABBA) in conjunction with Wadadli Elite, will be hosting a telethon today in hopes of raising EC $50,000 that will go towards a one-month trip to the USA by a group of young basketball players over the summer.
President of Wadadli Elite and a member of the basketball association, Byron Andrew, is spearheading the effort that is scheduled start at 9:30 am on Observer Radio’s Good Morning Jojo Sports Show.
“There’s a group of young basketball players who will be travelling to New York on the 24th of June to the 27th of July, so it’s for a full month. It is going to be filled with basketball activities; we are going to be playing in tournaments, scrimmages against different high schools, scrimmages against a few colleges and this is just to expose our young players to an elite level of basketball,” he said.
Andrew, in acknowledging that the economy is currently not at its best, urged those with the means of making a contribution to do so.
“We know that things are very difficult in terms of the economics of the country, but I believe that anybody who can do some little thing that it is going to go a long way to invest in the lives of our young people. What we are going to be doing tomorrow [Tuesday] we have a number which is 781-4993, and people can message that particular number and say this is what my donation is going to be,” he said.
The basketball administrator is hoping the initiative will open doors for some of the young players.
“You can’t get opportunities unless people see you, and this is one of the thrust behind doing this entire tour. I am hoping that this is going to be a yearly thing we do for these young players who’ve been training for years so there is going to be a group of 21 players and maybe about five chaperones that will be conducting this exercise,” Andrew said.
Tuesday’s telethon will start at 9:30 am and end at 10 am at which time callers will be able to make pledges toward the cause.