Organisers of the Solutions 2000 Under-19 secondary and tertiary institutions competition made the announcement during a press conference at the IICA conference room, Brickdam, yesterday.

“But we are optimistic that the decision will be favourable. It is a totally different competition. It attracts a different crowd,” coordinator Perry Woolford said.

Woolford, who is also secretary of the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA), disclosed that participating schools provided a teacher to supervise their teams, but when the teachers were on strike, the Parent-Teacher Association was involved and the GABA had an officer assigned to teams. These officials are clearly tagged.

The officer explained that the sponsors had wanted the competition staged during Mashramani but the GABA did not follow up on that proposal. It was then requested that the competition be played for the Independence celebration.

Woolford said that several factors prevented teams from being uniformed, but the sponsors were working on providing the finalists with uniforms.

Dr Parris of GABA Disciplinary Committee said the body was satisfied with the discipline in the competition.

“Kids will try something, but once they are spoken to, they correct the situation,” Dr Parris pointed out.

The official, however, disclosed that there was one “unfortunate” incident of alcohol consumption and the GABA and the school the students came from, dealt with the matter, although the persons involved were not actually players.

Several drastic measures have also been put in place, such as the expulsion of the team from the competition.

Although matches should finish by 17:30 hrs, some teams arrived late and play went beyond that deadline.

However, Dr Parris said that at no time did matches pass 18:30 hrs, so parents should question their children if they are at home later than 19:30 hrs.

“But we should congratulate the players for balancing the academics with sport,” Dr Parris said.

The secondary schools quarterfinals are fixed for today, followed by the tertiary institutions semifinals and the finals of the individual competitions.

From 13:00 hrs, Kingston High meet North Ruimveldt Secondary, St Rose’s High come up against Business College and St Stanislaus face President’s College.

University of Guyana will clash with Government Technical Institute (GTI) in the semifinals from 16:00 hrs.

The tertiary Mr Free Throw finals will have Dale Sauers of Linden Technical Institute (LTI), Desmond Chin (LTI) and Kester Gomes (GTI). Sauers will clash with Bonny Wilson (LTI) for the Mr Three Points crown, while Otto Williams, Jomo Augustine and Gomes will battle for the Dunk-Out title.