Following his bitter-sweet departure from his homeland last week, 19-year-old Richard Mohandatt has already begun his quest to play college ball, and ultimately realise his dream of playing in the NBA.
Mohandatt, born and raised in New Amsterdam Berbice, led his University of Guyana team to the final of the recently-concluded Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) Challenge Series.
He was adjudged the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) after averaging almost 25 points. His team placed second, but apart from the MVP award, Mohandatt also won the Individual Skills Challenge earlier in the tournament. Those honours served as his farewell, as he departed the country just two days after the end of the tournament.
A week after arriving in the U.S.A., the former junior national and YBG elite player has already settled, and is currently streamlining himself to realise his basketball aspirations. Mohandatt was pleased to inform Guyana Times International Sport (GTIS) that he has contacted U.S.-based Guyanese basketball enthusiasts and philanthropists Paul and Patrick Haynes of the Haynes Foundation.
“I got in contact with the Haynes brothers, and they were shedding some light to me about colleges — what is best, what I need to do, and the requirements. They were also telling me the requirements for an NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) scholarship, and what I must possess,” Mohandatt said.
With that in mind, Mohandatt said, he has already applied to four colleges in the New York area that play in both divisions One and Two in the NCAA. Mohandatt has applied to Long Island University (Brooklyn Campus), New York Institute of Technology, Concordia University and the New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York (CUNY).
Perfect for working on his game
During his time in Guyana, Mohandatt bounced around the city, always looking for a decent court to enjoy an afternoon or night scrimmage with his colleagues. Many times he was not successful. Now, Mohandatt is elated to have access to facilities which are unlike anything he has ever seen. The aspiring NBA player exhausted adjectives trying to describe the facility at a high school where his uncle teaches.
“My uncle over here teaches at a high school, and on Saturdays and Sundays the gym is available to him…It is a big thing to me here, because the court is of a really high standard, and the weight room (is) right there and everything,” Mohandatt said.
Since he does not have a coach, Mohandatt practises by himself in the high school gym, and sometimes plays a few pickup games in the neighbourhood. But in the individual sessions, Mohandatt said, he has been working on the areas that former national player and director of coaching and officiating at YBG, Lugard Mohan, had imparted to him during his time on the YBG Elite Team.
Mohandatt said that he knows it will be tough to get into a college, but he believes that hard work will enhance his chances. Having moved through the ranks in junior basketball in Guyana, he said, he has learnt a great deal about the game from playing at the junior national level.
Mohandatt was selected for two junior national teams, and played in the Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) basketball tournament twice, securing silver medals both times.
“Coaches pulled me aside and worked with me one-on-one to help me develop. Mr Bowman, (Chris Bowman who managed the junior national team and founded YBG) always guided me in every decision I made.”
The former Courts Pacesetters player said that the YBG organisation, which was launched in January, also helped to elevate his game.
“Lately, the YBG programme helped me a lot, even with its short time. There are some really good stuff that I learnt from coach Lugard (Mohan) just before leaving,” Mohandatt added.
He vowed to keep working on his game, developing his skills, and keeping GTS abreast of his progress in the U.S.A.