Wright explains what went wrong

Coach of the St.Vincent and the Grenadines senior male basketball team, Alrick Wright blamed poor attitude for the team’s lack-lustre performance at the recent Caribbean championship in Jamaica.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines placed seventh in the eight-team competition. The lone win was an 84-69 triumph over St. Kitts and Nevis.{{more}}

“Too many incidents happened off the court which affected the performance of the players,” Wright said.

“Players were breaking the curfew and were openly disrespectful to the coaches and the management team,” he added.

Wright admitted that this situation existed prior to the team’s departure but was never dealt with effectively by the local governing body.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines had only eight players available in Jamaica. According to Wright, Canada-based Isaac King never showed up and Alexis Foyle suffered an injury just before the championship, while two others were axed because of their non-committal to the team’s cause.

The head coach also believed that the uncertainty of Shawn Browne’s eligibility contributed to the team’s psychological state ahead of their opening encounter against Antigua/Barbuda.

These latest revelations may put the operations of the local body in a further tail spin – an organisation rocked by internal differences among some executive members

But Wright was not all dejected as he saw some positives coming out of the Jamaica experience. He singled out the work of Ishama Mc Rree and overseas-based John Gardiner whom he said showed great improvement as the competition progressed. Wright is also taking heart in the fact that they improved from game to game.

“I was especially pleased with the performance against Cuba” Wright revealed.

Cuba won that match 87-71. Wright’s blame may have some credence as the score lines suggest that the Vincentians were not outplayed by their more experienced opponents.

SVG lost 61-70 to Antigua/Barbuda, 62-75 to the Bahamas and 80-87 to Barbados.

Wright believed that his charges should have come out triumphant against the Barbados after levelling the score at 80, with thirty-four seconds remaining.

Jamaica beat the United States Virgin Islands to take the male division of the championship.

Apart from Wright, American Mike Mc Conathy was the team’s technical director, Darwin Vanloo, Manager and President of the local basketball body Wayne Williams was head of delegation.