Sprite Ball’s 10th edition promises to be mammoth and legendary with tons of surprises set to unfold at the grand event.
An event which is marked on Ghana’s sports calendar forever gaining many enthusiast with each and every passing year.
Since the competition expanded its’ format in 2010 to incorporate more schools from other regions in the country in the competition, schools from the Volta, Eastern and Northern Regions were included. Along with the above mentioned regions, the Western Region was invited to the competition enabling schools from the talent laden region to send teams to the main competition.
As such a bevy a schools that you will be hearing a lot about in subsequent reads including Bompeh Senior and Technical School and Shama Senior High School, Ghana Secondary Technical School (G.S.T.S.) finally got the chance to participate in the best high school basketball competition in West Africa. G.S.T.S. better known as “The Giants” is officially the most successful team from the region having won bronze in the 2013 edition behind Mfantsipim School and Koforidua Secondary Technical School.
The side that finished third in the competition is surely one of the best to have played in Sprite Ball against massively talented sides from Mfantsipim and K.S.T.S. who paraded the likes of Maxwell Mod and David Akuffo and Emmanuel Wolff and Emmanuel Amoako respectively. Led by star Point Guard Sidney Larbie the Giants made massive strides in the event after failing to register many wins in previous editions.
The side’s epic journey to qualify from the regional stages to the main competition in Ghana’s capital, Accra, was filled with many plots of perseverance, guile and intent to make good on their moniker. Larbie proved to his team what 2016 Hall of Fame inductee Allen Iverson was to the Philadelphia Sixers by single handedly leading his team to the latter stages. Sidney forced his side into championship contention talk by leading the side to the final four for the first time in the school’s history.
With some deserved help from Keta Secondary School, a maiden medal for the Western Region was secured. Being the torch bearer as he has been since his days at the school, Larbie has carried his excellent form to the Tertiary Level where he has once again assumed the leadership reins at Central University.
However, the bright days of an emerging dynasty out west failed to bear fruits as the school has since been saddled in a run of mediocre end results in subsequent editions. The latest underwhelming result was witnessed in the ninth edition as the side crashed out of the competition at the group stage despite the great play of Center Mustapha Ahmed.
But it is darkest before dawn and the light of Ghana Secondary Technical School is sure to shine through in January 2017 for the time beckons for the Giant to rise from its slumber and “With Minds and Hands” like the school’s motto states, reign supreme.
