Basketball: Under-13s learning at GuyMarGua

The Northern Islands U13 team participated in the GuyMarGua tournament in the Antilles-Guyana on April 26 and 27, which brought together the teams of Martinique (which hosted the competition), French Guiana, and Guadeloupe. The competition, unsurprisingly, proved to be very competitive. The players from Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy (Jules Guix and Naullah Husson) lost all four of their matches. Nevertheless, they displayed a tenacious spirit and were able to use the tournament as a learning curve. "Our players and their coaches never gave up and showed constant improvement match after match, further reducing the points gap," noted the management of the Northern Islands Committee. This self-sacrifice must indeed be highlighted because, in its ranks, the Northern Islands team included almost exclusively players playing for the first year in the U13 category. One of them was even upgraded, as he was still playing in the under-11 category. "The players fought like hell," assures Pascal Peuchot, president of the Pelicans of Saint-Barth, who mentions "the big physical gap" with their opponents. Particularly those of the Guadeloupe national team, in which players were 1.80 meters tall. "On the other side, our players had a lot of second-year U13s," insists Pascal Peuchot, as if to better highlight the performance of the young representatives of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy. As for Jules and Naullah, the Pelicans of the national team, they knew how to hold their own. While Naullah started the first two matches on the substitutes' bench, he started the next two as a starter, in the starting five. "The work already accomplished and that which remains to be done suggests good results for next year," comments the Committee's management. This adventure has been a real learning experience and a source of pride for the entire team. We look forward to seeing you next year for even more success."