From the Court to the Caribbean: D-Up’s Basketball Journey Gathers Momentum

What began with a few children on a basketball court in Region Three has grown into a programme taking Guyanese youth basketball beyond the local court and onto the regional stage. 

 For D-Up Basketball Academy, the recently concluded 5th Annual Aloysius Daniel Youth Classic in St. Lucia was more than another tournament. It was an opportunity for young players to experience a different level of competition, test their abilities, and return home with a better understanding of what development requires. 

 Behind that journey is Chairman and Head Coach Anthony Kandar, whose relationship with basketball spans roughly four decades. Yet his motivation for building D-Up was never simply about producing basketball players. 

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 It began with the children. Kandar recalls visiting basketball courts and seeing youngsters eager to learn, but lacking the fundamental skills needed to properly develop their game. Their disappointment when he could not return to continue teaching them stayed with him. 

 “I would see their faces,” Kandar recalled, describing the sadness of children who wanted to learn more but had no one consistently available to teach them. 

 He also recognised that many of the children were interested in basketball but lacked a strong understanding of its fundamentals. “So, I said, hey, it’s the right thing to do is to pass it on,” he explained. 

 That decision eventually developed into D-Up Basketball Academy, which now works with more than 90 boys and girls and has built a programme around basketball, education, discipline and personal development. 

 Another catalyst came through Charles Ramson Jr., now Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport. Kandar remembers hearing Ramson speak during a radio broadcast about his appreciation for basketball. For Kandar, it sparked the thought that he could find someone who shared his passion for the sport and potentially help develop his early vision. 

At the time, that vision was modest: provide children with equipment and sneakers, improve basketball facilities, organise small tournaments and build a stronger programme in Region Three. 

 Years later, that vision has travelled considerably further. 

 D-Up now stages four local tournaments annually while creating opportunities for young athletes to compete and develop. The academy has also embraced school-based talent identification, including its Basketball Jamboree, through which ten players were selected for the St. Lucia trip. 

 The young Guyanese contingent included students from Vergenoegen Secondary, Bishops’ High School and Queen’s College, adding an educational dimension to the regional experience. The St. Lucia trip also came during a busy period for D-Up, following a summer camp with PLAY International of Washington, D.C., and the Joy Adams & Hamid Foundation Classic in Linden. In St. Lucia, D-Up played five round-robin games, winning two and finishing fourth.

 Members of the D-UP Basketball Academy pose with key fogures from their St. Lucia tournament. From left Coach Debbie Solomon (Bishops High), Mr. Chris Gustav (St. Lucia Tourism) Anthony Kandar (D-Up Basketball Academy Coach)

The campaign included a difficult encounter against the Antigua Pitbulls, where D-Up suffered a 118-51 defeat. The result highlighted the challenge of stepping into unfamiliar regional competition, but for a developing programme, that challenge is part of the process. 

International exposure allows young players to identify their strengths, recognise areas for improvement and measure themselves against athletes they may not encounter during domestic competition. 

Several D-Up players were also recognised for their development during the tournament, adding another positive element to the experience. For Kandar, however, the value of D-Up extends beyond what happens between the opening tip and final buzzer. The academy uses basketball as a vehicle for discipline, education and positive development, with the broader objective of keeping young people engaged in school and productive activities while helping them develop qualities that can serve them long after their playing days. That philosophy is now being matched by an expanding competitive programme. 

 D-Up is preparing for another major local tournament between September and November, with expectations of as many as 17 boys’ teams participating. It is a considerable distance from Kandar’s original vision of working with a handful of children on a local court. 

 Today, D-Up is creating a pathway that begins locally through schools, camps and tournaments, but increasingly reaches into the wider Caribbean. For the young players who travelled to St. Lucia, the experience was not simply about winning or losing. It was about seeing the game from another perspective, competing against new opponents and returning home with a clearer understanding of what comes next. 

 And for Kandar, the motivation remains rooted in the same place it began: the children. What started as an effort to teach young players the fundamentals of basketball has evolved into a programme offering something broader: opportunity, discipline, education and exposure. D-Up’s St. Lucia campaign ended with a fourth-place finish. But for a programme built around development, the final position on the standings is only one measure of progress. The bigger measure is what those young players take from the experience and bring back to the court. For D-Up, the next challenge is already waiting.