The Ministry of Tourism’s Sports Tourism Unit, represented by Director of Sports Tourism Development, Tyrone Sawyer, joined the Bahamas Basketball Federation (BBF) in a targeted promotional effort at the recent National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Expo in Atlanta, Georgia during the NCAA Final 4 weekend.
Sean Bastian, coordinator of the Summer of Thunder (left) and Tyrone Sawyer of the Ministry of Tourism (right) are pictured with Scott Woltzen of Moose Tours, who assisted in attracting the University of Maryland basketball team to Nassau/Paradise Island.
The Bahamas representatives interacted with legendary coaches and sports travel planners. They also renewed acquaintances with long-time Bahamas partners.
“We are happy to link arms in a meaningful way with the Bahamas Basketball Federation, one of our more dynamic sports federations,” Mr. Sawyer said. “The sustained vision of the BBF leadership over the years has set the stage for a lot of our basketball sports tourism successes.”
The goal behind the joint promotional effort was to build on the growing prominence of The Islands Of The Bahamas as a world-class sports tourism destination while working with the BBF to attract more NCAA basketball teams to its annual Summer of Thunder basketball matches. The lofty goal was achieved and exceeded, Mr. Sawyer said.
Under NCAA rules, U.S. member colleges are allowed to take a “foreign tour” every four years. Teams are allowed to play their new recruits or “rookies”, which was not allowed before. U.S. college teams are also allowed to play scrimmage basketball games against local club, local all star teams, or other non-U.S. teams, but they are not allowed to play other U.S. college teams.
Against this backdrop, BBF’s Summer of Thunder basketball scrimmages have blossomed. More and more top-flight U.S. college teams are taking advantage of the opportunity to visit The Islands Of The Bahamas as a part of a foreign tour. Included in this group is Duke University, winner of the 2012 Battle 4 Atlantis on Paradise Island. Also prominent among this group is the University of Louisville, which lost to Duke in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game last November, but overcame Duke, Witchita State and the University of Michigan to win the NCAA Championship in Atlanta.
Already, the BBF has confirmed an impressive slate of teams for its 2013 Summer of Thunder programme. These include University of Mississippi, Kent State, the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of Maryland and Bradley University.
