Bermuda Basketball Association (BBA) president Alan Walker and national team player Chris Crumpler were all smiles yesterday as they announced that the Island would be hosting the first annual Bermuda Thanksgiving Classic.

The tournament will be run over a two-day period, November 26 and 27, and will be contested by eight teams – six from overseas and two from Bermuda – with games to be played at both CedarBridge and Berkeley Institute.

And in a press conference at the Grotto Bay Hotel, Walker also revealed the appointment of Steven Simons as the new Under-18 national team coach, replacing Crumpler, and that talented youngster Tejour Riley would receive an $18,000 dollar scholarship to attend Metro Prep in Toronto – a school that will compete at the Classic.

"The BBA is committed to the development of basketball in Bermuda and this will be the biggest tournament in the history of the association," said Walker, who was joined at yesterday's conference by Crumpler, Simons and Riley.

"Thanks to the support of Youth and Sport, the BBA is able to have an eight-team tournament comprised of six teams from overseas and two local teams."

Teams involved in the Classic include Durango High and Chaparral High out of Las Vegas, Francis Parker High from San Diego, Georgetown Prep from Maryland, Metro Prep from Toronto, and Georgetown District High from Ontario.

Each team will play four games with two games each day.

Crumpler said: "I will be stepping down as the head coach of the Under-18 team and the new head coach will be the Bermuda national team captain Steven Simons."

"Coach Simons has won a championship at every level as a player in Bermuda.

"He has also coached Warwick Academy to back-to-back Bermuda Senior School Federation (BSSF) Championships."

n Jeneya Wade-Fray's Great Britain team won 70-63 in the Slovak Republic on Monday night to top their qualifying group for next summer's EuroBasket finals in Poland.

It was the third straight victory for coach Tom Maher's Great Britain side.

They now go into tomorrow's home game against Germany in Liverpool with a 3-1 record and full of confidence following their impressive win.

Bermuda's Wade-Fray was called up by Great Britain earlier this year following her outstanding season with the University of Tennessee team in Chattanooga, USA.