After more than six years away from official international competition, the small Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is poised to make its return to elite regional basketball, with the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Basketball Federation (SVGBF) officially naming its 20-member delegation for the upcoming FIBA AmeriCup 2029 Caribbean Pre-Qualifiers. The tournament, which brings together 10 top national men’s squads from across the Caribbean region, will run from July 6 to 13 in the host city of Georgetown, Guyana.
This appearance marks a long-awaited milestone for Vincentian men’s basketball: it will be the senior men’s national team’s first outing at an international FIBA tournament since the 2018 event held in Suriname. The team has set its sights on securing a spot in the next qualifying round of the FIBA AmeriCup, which is scheduled to take place in November 2026.
In a statement released by the federation, organizers revealed a key logistical challenge that the team has had to overcome ahead of the tournament: St. Vincent and the Grenadines currently lacks an indoor wooden basketball court that meets all of FIBA’s international competition standards. To address this gap, the entire national delegation will hold its pre-tournament training camp in neighboring Trinidad and Tobago. The squad is set to depart St. Vincent and the Grenadines this Friday, July 3, for the three-day intensive training camp in Trinidad, before traveling directly to Guyana on July 5 to prepare for their opening matches.
The 10 participating nations have been split into two groups of five teams for the pre-qualifiers, with only the top finisher from each group earning a promotion to the next round of the qualifying campaign. St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has been drawn into Group B, where they will face off against regional rivals Barbados, Grenada, Haiti and the Cayman Islands. Group A is made up of Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and tournament host Guyana. Team SVG will compete in a round-robin format against every other team in their group, fighting to claim one of the two available qualification slots for the next stage.
The 13-player roster for SVG features a mix of emerging young talent and experienced veteran players: Sean Baptiste, Opong Bramble, Shamore Charles, Tyler Fraser, Darreo Glasgow, Jermaine John, Elton Joseph, Phillip Lawrence-Ricks, Hosea Martindale-DeFreitas, Brendon Smart, Steveon Taylor, Chrisford Telesford and Shad Thomas.
The 7-person supporting staff delegation is led by Suzette Jackson, president of the SVGBF, who serves as Head of Delegation. Sabrina Mitchell takes on the role of Team Manager and Chef de Mission, while Justin Scott is the team’s head coach, supported by assistant coach Randolph “Sticky” Williams. Rounding out the staff are Social Media Manager Ella Mitchell-Sutton, Team Physiotherapist Shirnan Jacobs, and Team Doctor Dr. Rico Audain.
Team SVG has released its full match schedule for the group stage of the tournament: they will open their campaign against Grenada on Wednesday, July 8 at 3 p.m. local time, followed by a match against the Cayman Islands on Friday, July 10 at 3 p.m. They will then face Haiti on Saturday, July 11 at 3 p.m., before wrapping up their group stage play against Barbados on Sunday, July 12 at 12:30 p.m.