Technical director of Jamaica’s Under-17 basketball team Wayne Dawkins says the team is seeking US$20,000 ($3 million) to enable participation in this month’s Centrobasketball Championship which will be held in Belize July 26-30.

The young Jamaicans are drawn in Group A and will face Panama, Puerto Rico, and Belize in the preliminary round of the competition.

According to Dawkins, the Jamaicans must be in Belize by July 24; therefore, the need for the financial assistance has become a matter of urgency if the team is going to compete in the championships.

“We have some commitments but nothing concrete right now at this point,” said Dawkins. “What is remaining now is just the airfares because we have to get the airfares done because all the preparations, in terms of hotel, transportation, and food, have been paid for and so the last thing now is just the airfares,” he said.

Dawkins shared that this is a very talented team that they have selected to represent the country at the championships, a manifestation of hard work in their over two months of preparation for the tournament. Consequently, Dawkins is confident the team will make the country proud.

“We went through a lot of work selecting them, training them, because these athletes have been training for over two months for this championships,” he said. “The coaches have been committed, the kids and parents have been committed and have put together a team that can go out there and make Jamaica proud,” Dawkins said.

He pointed out that this tournament will also be very critical for the players and the country as it could open a lot of doors for them to get into overseas universities as well as improve the country’s basketball profile internationally.

“It’s the Centro Basketball Championships and it is one of the gateway competitions to bigger opportunities, and if we don’t do well… many opportunities will be closed to us,” Dawkins said. “You have to do well in this tournament in order to get other invites at older ages, because without doing well here, then basketball becomes a little bit more stagnant,” he stated.