It has been a difficult year for the Diamond Basketball Development program but Coach Terrance “Red Eye” McSweeney was able to complete his six-week event this past Saturday. The veteran coach and Diamond Basketball honored a former player who passed away this year, Jonique “Mini” Webb. The six-week camp that was in her honor took place at the basketball court at The Hope Center, Big Pond Highway in New Providence.
McSweeney teamed up with Webb’s sorority sisters from the Bahamas Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority, Incorporated – the oldest sorority at 112 years old.
President of the local chapter, Ida Poitier-Turnquest, said the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow them to be as involved with the program as they would have liked.
“We were happy to be involved,” Poitier-Turnquest said. “We did not get to be as involved as we would have liked but we were able to speak to them about being like Jonique, who was a person who had high morals, integrity and stickability. We spoke about how far that will take you in the world because it did for her. Our partnership with him is just that we would assist as a female organization and this basketball program is for girls. We would come in, once COVID is over – whatever he has planned, we would come in to speak about life and health issues. Some of the targets that we have within our organization, we will look at those targets and speak to those targets like health and education and economics to see how they budget and take care of themselves.”
Coach McSweeney said he was happy to have the AKA sorority out on Saturday assisting with the girls. Webb’s sorority sisters each took a shot at the basket in her honor. They also presented a plaque to Jasmine Roker on behalf of Webb for her outstanding performance. In addition, the Baptist Sports Council (BSC), in which Webb was involved, was on hand to present a plaque to Maquell Hall for her sportsmanship over the six weeks.
Webb’s family was also present on Saturday.
McSweeney said Webb joined the program in 1998 and was a part of it until 2006. The former Jordan Prince William High School athlete lost her battle with Lupus on January 19 of this year. McSweeney started the program back in 1995, while he was coaching at Temple Christian Schools.
“We look at girls who are determined and want to work. It is really also incumbent on the parent… We do not look for numbers because when we went public back in 1998 and asked coaches to send players out, we only had Coach Hattie Moxey from Prince William and Shayne Sweeting from St. Anne’s. They were the only two who somewhat saw fit in letting their players come and it speaks volumes to them putting aside pride to let someone who have the knowledge and will to work,” McSweeney said.
On hand to show her support for the program and for what it stands for was Sweeting. A former college mate of McSweeney at Bethune-Cookman College, Sweeting said that she sent her girls from St. Anne’s there because she knew that McSweeney would be able to help in their development.
“I sent my girls to his program because I saw the qualities that he had. He was good at teaching the fundamentals. I saw where he could pull out of them, things that they did not even know,” said Sweeting about McSweeney. “A lot of these girls are looking for father figures. I see in him where he would go out of his way to help in whichever way that he can. I also sent my girls to him because I felt that they were in a safe environment – I trusted him in making sure that happened. These are other people’s children. I saw all these qualities and I had no fear or felt any kind of way,” Sweeting said.
McSweeney said he does not teach offensive and defensive plays at the program but the basics of the game. He leaves the offensive and defensive schemes to the other coaches.
“The developmental program is about teaching girls the fundamentals of dribbling, shooting and other aspects, so when they go back to their schools, it is incumbent on the coaches to put in the X’s and O’s – the offense and defense. We just do the basic stuff because I am training your child to compete but I want to make sure that she can shoot free throws, lay-up with both hands and handle the ball. What we must find out is how aggressive she is going to be on playing defense and taking pressure,” McSweeney said.
The just-concluded six-week program experienced a maximum of 17 girls coming out. There were girls from schools such as St. John’s College, Anatol Rodgers Senior High School, L.W. Young Junior High School, D.W. Davis Junior High School and two girls who were homeschooled.
McSweeney’s end goals are to ensure that the girls can further their education locally or abroad and for them to play for the junior and senior national basketball teams. He is grateful to Carlos and Tiffany Reid from the Hope Center for allowing him to use their court.
By 2021, McSweeney is looking to form an all-girls basketball league at the primary, junior and senior school levels.
McSweeney is back teaching young ladies the fundamentals of the game on Saturday January 9, 2021 at the Hope Center.
The post Diamond Basketball, AKA team up to honor Webb appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/diamond-basketball-aka-team-up-to-honor-webb/
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