BCBA set out to raise the tide

The Blue Chip Basketball Academy (BCBA) is set on raising the tide in the way basketball and sports in general are approached here in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Expressing the mission of the BCBA, was its founder Kishon Bishop.

A current national basketball player, Bishop, who resides in the USA, outlined the intentions of the academy at a press briefing recently, at the Girls’ High School.

“Our goal is to make the national basketball association (St Vincent and the Grenadines Basketball Federation) better … We want to raise the tide … Create a different experience … We are not changing the tide; we may just do something different and at the same time make Vincentians educated,” Bishop pronounced.

Bishop said that when Blue Chip Basketball Academy takes root, it must be seen that they are “doing it right…We do not only want to raise the tide for basketball, we want to raise the tide for sports culture”.  

During his visit back to his homeland, the BCBA conducted the second annual Veronica Bishop Basketball Classic, as well as coaching clinics at the Girls’ High School and had intentions for a clinic in Bequia, but the event was rained out.

Bishop revealed that during the hosting of the classic, he was able to instil some missing values in some of the teams – one being “punctuality”.

He pointed to his experiences in his adopted home of the USA, where Vincentian student-athletes, although blessed with several talents, are sometimes sidelined, because they lack that approach needed to get by in that country.

Bishop said, in raising the tide, Vincentian student-athletes must acknowledge that their talent in sports alone cannot take them to the next level.

“Student-athletes who are well rounded get the preference in procuring scholarships, as sports is an extra-curricular activity,” Bishop underscored.

The BCBA has established a partnership with the Girls’ High School, a partnership which will see the BCBA supplying the Girls’ High School with warm-up apparel and team uniforms.

Also, the Girls’ High School will be branded as the BCBA Women’s Team, whenever they participate in competitions outside the secondary schools’ tournaments.

Representing the Girls’ High School at the press briefing, Kia Prince said that the parents and students are all enthused with the basketball programme, noting the parents are happy that their children are getting involved in an extra-curricular activity.

Bishop disclosed that whilst the BCBA is primarily a basketball set-up, he will be utilizing the organization’s networking to source opportunities for Vincentian student-athletes to get into US colleges and universities.

 The long-range plan of BCBA is to establish both a female and male team, primarily netting residents of Campden Park, the home community of Bishop.

At present, Bishop is an assistant basketball coach of the varsity men’s team at West Forsyth High School in North Carolina.

A former student of the St Vincent Grammar School, after leaving St Vincent and the Grenadines, Bishop attended Piedmont International University from 2004 to 2008 and 2012-2014.

Bishop graduated Cum Laude with a BA degree in Student Ministries and Magna Cum Laude with a BS degree in Health and Physical Education from Piedmont University and a BA in the same field from High Point University.

Bishop is employed as a health and physical educator at Walkertown Middle School, located in Walkertown, North Carolina.