Caribbean Sports In Brief – St. Lucia-Born Chris Boucher Signs With Golden State Warriors

St. Lucian-born Chris Boucher was passed over in the NBA draft.

By NAN Sports Editor

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. June 23, 2017:  An injured St. Lucian-born basketball player reportedly agreed to a two-way NBA contract with the Golden State Warriors, league sources were quoted as saying last night. The contract allows a player to be on both the active roster and in the G League, getting paid for whichever roster they are active on.

The University of Oregon’s Chris Boucher went into the draft despite a torn ACL. The six-foot-one forward with the pterodactyl seven-foot-four wing span earned Pac-12 all-defensive team honors this past season, leading the conference in blocked shots (2.6 per game). He also averaged 12.0 points and 6.8 rebounds in his two-year career with the Ducks. A lot of folks had been rooting for Boucher who has overcome a lot of odds in his young life to get as far as he has.

Boucher moved to Montreal when he was five months old with his mother, Mary MacVane, to join his father, Jean-Guy Boucher. The couple had two other children together — a son and a daughter — but divorced when Boucher was 9. At age 16, he dropped out of school, but was later able to earn his high-school diploma. He spent time working minimum-wage jobs as a dishwasher and then a cook at a St-Hubert BBQ restaurant before playing in a Hang Time tournament and wowing coaches there. That landed him a scholarship to Oregon and the rest as they say is history.

USAIN BOLT FOR MONACO

Jamaican-born, Triple Olympian, Usain St. Leo Bolt will have one race before before the IAAF World Championships London 2017, which will be his last major championships appearance.

Organisers of the Herculis EBS meeting have confirmed that Bolt will compete at the IAAF Diamond League meeting on July 21st as part of his farewell tour.

It will mark Bolt’s return to the Louis II Stadium for the first time since 2011 when he won the men’s 100-m in 9.88. The Jamaican superstar will contest the 100-m again at the Herculis EBS meet, which is the final IAAF Diamond League fixture before the IAAF World Championships London 2017.

CONCACAF GOLD CUP

The countdown is on to the 14th edition of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Gold Cup. It will begin on Friday, July 7 at Red Bull Arena in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. That opening double header features a Group A match-up of perennial Central American rivals, Honduras and Costa Rica and 2000 champion Canada facing newcomer French Guiana. Group B will kick off on July 8, in Nashville, with a rematch of the 2015 Gold Cup third-place match between USA and Panama, followed by Martinique and Nicaragua. Defending champion Mexico will begin its title defense on July 9 in San Diego, versus El Salvador as the second match of a doubleheader. Curacao and Jamaica will begin play in Group C in the first match of that day.

Tickets are available here.

NBA B-BALL CAMP IN HAITI

Sacramento Kings rookie star Skal Labissière will host his first Camp S.K.A.L. basketball clinic in his native Port-au-Prince, Haiti from July 19-21.

“This will be my first time back home in seven years,” Labissière said. “I’m blessed to be in a place now where I can give back to my Port-au-Prince community and this is just the start of more free Camp S.K.A.L. events there in the future. I look forward to sharing some of the basketball and life knowledge I’ve gained over the years.”

Labissière partnered with Reach Your Dream, a non-profit organization promoting spiritual awareness, self confidence, and innovative thinking for future generations in communities throughout the world. Reach Your Dream helped Labissière relocate to the United States before high school to pursue his educational and basketball goals.