A new chapter in regional 3×3 basketball is set to unfold this May, as Saint Lucia prepares to send a four-player roster to the first-ever Under-23 3×3 championship organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (ANOCES). The landmark tournament will run May 16 through 17 at the Multipurpose Sports Complex located in Road Town, Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands, gathering top young talent from across the Eastern Caribbean.
For Saint Lucia, the tournament carries far more meaning than a simple developmental competition. The event represents a critical qualifying window for the XXV Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 8 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with the qualification deadline closing in June. It would mark the first time that Saint Lucia’s basketball program has qualified for the regional multi-sport event, a historic milestone that the nation’s basketball federation is eager to achieve.
The Saint Lucia roster features two players with recent high-level international 3×3 experience, a sign of the program’s steady growth in recent years. Sidney Didier of the Soufriere Kings has competed at both the U23 and senior national levels since 2022, while Junior Dupre represents the Morne Gladiators. Both athletes took part in last year’s FIBA Caribbean 3×3 competitions hosted in The Bahamas. Rounding out the four-member squad are Jazaniah Blanchard, also of the Morne Gladiators, and Ajini Ferdinand of the Courts Jets.
Glen Guiste, president of the Saint Lucia Basketball Federation, explained that shifting to U23-level competition for major regional and global tournaments aligns with the new direction set by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). “That’s where the game is going with FIBA,” Guiste noted. “The U23 World Cup, also CAC games in July, will be in the U23 category. This also gives us an opportunity to qualify for the said CAC Games – the window closes in June. So there’s a lot hinging on this tournament. Apart from a development opportunity for us, it’s also an opportunity to qualify for CAC games for the first time in basketball.”
Guiste emphasized that beyond the stakes of qualification, the tournament demonstrates the long-term success of the federation’s youth development programs. Years ago, a young U17 Saint Lucia team traveled to Venezuela for competition and struggled to secure strong results. Today, many of those same players are now competing for spots on the U23 national squad, showing clear signs of tangible growth. The current cohort of young prospects is also learning from the nation’s more experienced senior players, who have competed at the AmeriCup tournament in recent years.
“It’s just great to see that we have players who are stepping up to the plate, and they’re developing through all the programmes that we run,” Guiste said. “So one of the milestones is the growth of the players in the game, and they are on the heels of the more seasoned senior players, who have gone to AmeriCup over the past couple years. So that again shows that the game is in good hands.”
Entering the tournament, Saint Lucia is ranked second among competing teams, with only St Kitts & Nevis holding a higher ranking. Other nations competing at the event include Dominica, Grenada, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. Along with the four competing players, the Saint Lucia traveling delegation includes head coach Christus Michel, referee Shadrack Theodore, and team manager Neil Joseph.
The tournament is paired with capacity-building initiatives organized by FIBA, designed to train and equip member federations across the region. The overarching goal of these efforts is to help Eastern Caribbean nations build competitive programs that can compete for medals on the global 3×3 basketball stage, growing the format across the Caribbean long-term.