Sancho Lyttle summons more coaches to lift local basketball

Getting more coaches to work with the young basketball talent here in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has been cited as the greatest need to move the local game forward.

That is the recommendation of SVG-born professional basketballer Sancho Lyttle, who was the main facilitator of a three-day secondary school All Girls Basketball Camp, staged by the St Vincent and the Grenadines Basketball Federation, in conjunction with the Sunshine Basketball Academy.

Lyttle conducted the free three-day camp from December 21- 23 at the St Joseph’s Convent Kingstown hard court facility and spoke to SEARCHLIGHT.

“There is a need for more coaches… If you don’t have coaches to teach the athletes, then you have no athletes; if you don’t have anyone to groom and spot the people that need the actual help and those who have the potential….With the coaches bring more athletes, then everything can grow from there,” Lyttle noted.

“I have seen some people with potential already of age to get into [US] colleges, but they are still so raw, so we need to groom them better at a younger age and give them the early skills,” she added.

Reflecting on the three days of the camp, Lyttle, who was assisted by her former university teammate, Amanda Barksdale, said: “We taught them a lot of basic passing, how to shoot a layup and proper form for shots.”

Recognizing some marked improvements over the three days of the camp, Lyttle said that ideally, on her next visit, she would work with the coaches, who would then pass on the knowledge to the young basketballers.

Lyttle expressed satisfaction to have found the time to contribute to the land of her birth in a sport that has helped her carve out her personal development.

“It was good giving back and a lot of people do it in America in their community; but because my community is so far away…, it feels good that I can come and give back for free, for they do it at a cost in America,” Lyttle indicated.

The 34-year-old Lyttle is a former student of the Girls’ High School, who left SVG in 2001 to attend a junior college in the USA.

She then moved on to the University of Houston, before embarking on a l Continued from Page 25

professional basketball career.

Three years with the now defunct Houston Comets and another nine with the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA are listed as part of Lyttle’s professional journey.

Lyttle, a naturalized citizen of Spain, has also represented clubs from Spain, Turkey and Russia, for the past six seasons in the professional Euroleague.(RT)