Jamaica's senior men's national basketball coach Rick Turner has blamed inexperience for missing out on representing the country's 3×3 team at the Paris Olympics later this year.
The team failed to take advantage of any of the three routes to earn a spot in the eight-team Olympic berth.
“Whenever you get a chance to compete, you want to compete at the highest level. I don't want to use the word disappointed because we had to do a lot to earn one of the coveted spots in the Olympics. Because coming from where we came from would have been tough for us,” Turner said.
The first opportunity for the Jamaicans was to become one of the top three teams in the Americas region by November 2023.
That seemed unlikely, so the Jamaicans turned to playing in the Universal Olympic Qualifying Tournament (UOQT). There were two matches in which Jamaicans did not participate, in which only the winners would qualify for the Olympics, followed by the American Cup, which is open to three teams.
“As a matter of fact, we started competing in 3×3 in 2021 and immediately jumped into the fire, competing in the American Cup competition and playing great, reaching the quarterfinals on our first attempt at 3×3. I did,” Turner said.
The veteran basketball coach, who has been in charge since January 2019, explained that the biggest obstacle for the national team was “funding.” He added that, based on his calculations, a solid basketball program won't cost the federation an arm and a leg.
“The only thing holding back 3×3 and 5×5 Jamaica from playing at the highest level in the world is money. At the end of the day, it's holding us back just because we don't need that much. My calculations are that you can get a healthy national program for as little as $150,000 a year. That's nothing. That's nothing,” Turner said.
Turner believes he has Jamaica's best talent and they can compete with the best 3×3 players in the world.
“As we proved in Puerto Rico a few months ago, we can compete with the United States of the world. We are just as good as them and have the talent to compete at the highest level. We were hoping to play, but FIBA (International Basketball Federation) has not been able to find a host country for the tournament, so when the next 5×5 tournament will be is really up in the air.”
orane.buchanan@gleanerjm.com
