The
Cayman Islands National Women’s Basketball team is no stranger to
hardware at the NATWEST Island Games!

The
very first three years of the Cayman women competing at the Island
Games was a huge success with the women winning 3 medals under the
guidance of the Technical Director for Cayman Islands Basketball
Association and then Head Coach Victor “Voot” O’Garro.

The
Cayman Islands made an enormous impression when they won Gold in the
Isle of Man for their very first tournament appearance in 2001;
Bronze in Guernsey 2003 and Gold in Shetland Isles/Gibraltar 2005.

But
it would be 2007 Rhodes, Greece where Cayman placed 8th
that would put a damper on the women competing at the prestigious
games going forward. The women did not compete in 2009 through 2013,
but would try their hearts at it once again at the all too familiar
tournament held in Jersey, Island the year of 2015 where Cayman
placed 5th.
In 2017 in Gotland, Sweden, the women would get close to the podium
as they faced Guernsey for the Bronze medal match. Guernsey however,
proved too experienced for the young Cayman squad and took away the
triplet island’s only chances of bringing home hardware.

President of the Cayman Islands Basketball Association Mr. Richard Parchment said, “This Cayman National Women’s team has history to repeat as medal contenders. Watching their men counterpart in 2017 finally pull off what they have done twice in the past has reignited this team, so July in Gibraltar should be an exciting time for Cayman basketball.”

The
Technical Director for Basketball Coach Victor “Voot” O’Garro
said, the women’s team is in a rebuilding stage but he knows that
they’ll get there soon. “Our women are in preparation right now
to regain their rightful place on the podium. They have not been on
that podium since 2005. However, last year the team placed 4th
just missing medal contention. We look forward to the ladies doing an
extremely good job this year in Gibraltar.”

This
year 2019, the National women’s team consists of Courtisha Ebanks,
Hannah Parchment, Scimone Campbell, Khailan O’Connor, Michal Segal,
Dionne Anglin, Yolanni Manzanares, Alicia Turner, Melissa
Bridgemohan, Stacy-Ann Kelly, Chloe Powery-Doxey and Neandra Forbes.

The
2019 Women’s Coaches are Wendy Manzanares and Cory McGee

The
team’s Manager is Melissa Smith.

Coach
Wendy Manzanares is very excited to see things coming together with
the women’s team as preparation continues. She said, “The last
time the women’s team was on the podium at the Island Games was
2005 with Gold. We did not compete in 2009, 2011 or 2013 and in 2017
we placed 4th so now our team is at a stage of rebuilding and
expecting to regain our place on the podium in the near future. The
journey is the most important thing and we are definitely aiming to
leave a mark.”

Background
info on tournament

The NatWest
Island Games is held every two years and is
an international multi-sports event with Competitor teams
representing different island communities with
no more than 150,000 people….A mini-Olympics if you must.The
18th
annual games will be held in the British
Overseas Territory of Gibraltar between
July 6th
and 12th
2019.

-Controversially,
the games will not include cycling, football,
or Indoor Volleyball which have been in all previous games since
1985, due to the lack of venues, instead replaced by tenpin bowling,
judo,
and squash.