Tuff E Nuff of San Pedro

Tuff E Nuff wins!

The Interoffice Basketball League 2012 started on Friday May 25th in Belize City. San Pedro is being represented in the league by the Tuff E Nuff Tours team. The league has a total of 10 teams who will be challenging each other during the regular season to win a space in the playoffs scheduled to start on June 29th.

Tuff E Nuff started the regular season on the right foot having won its first two games in the regular season. In its first game, which was the inaugural game on Friday May 25 at the Birds Isle in Belize City, Tuff E Nuff managed to edge Alamilla Furniture Boys by a score of 53 to 51 points. It was a disappointment for the Alamilla Furniture Boys having dominating three quarters by 13 points. Tuff E Nuff made a remarkable come-back in the last quarter topping the Belize City based team by a two -points lead in the last five seconds before the long whistle.

The schedule for Tuff E Nuff in the regular season is as follows:

Date	Teams	Time
*Friday 1st June	Tuff E Nuff vs Maria Chang	8:00pm
Sun 3rd June	Tuff E Nuff vs Kolbe	3:00pm
Sat. 9th June	Tuff E Nuff vs Quan's Trading\Kephawn	6:00pm
*Friday 15th June	Tuff E Nuff vs BTL	7:00pm
Sun 17th June	Tuff E Nuff vs Police	1:00pm
Thur. 21st June	YFF vs Tuff E Nuff	6:30pm
Sun 24th June	Tuff E Nuff vs Caye Caulker	12:00pm

*Games schedule to be aired live on More FM 99.5

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun

Tuff E Nuff playing hard for each other and for San Pedro

The 2012 Inter-office Basketball competition is well underway and hometown players Tuff E Nuff Boys are making waves by winning their first four games despite the fact that the first game they won was also the very first game they played together as a team this year. Tuff E Nuff is the only team from San Pedro competing in the tournament for 2012 and from all indications they seem to have a very good chance of bringing home the gold. However, owner/player/coach Rico Black says that this year they face some strong competition. "It won't be easy, but we have a good chance�" smiles Black.

Unlike previous inter-office seasons, where players had to be employees of the team office, this year's tournament has been opened up to the general public and all of the roasters have been strengthened by an influx of ex semi-pro basketball players who have joined with the office employees to play for the championship. The combination of experience and ability that these ex-semi pro ballers bring makes the teams stronger and lift the intensity of the competition to a whole new level for inter-office basketball. The San Pedro Sun sat down with player-coach Rico Black to get his impressions on this year's teams, the competition, his outlook for the tournament and the performance of his team thus far.

"This season we were caught a bit off guard", explained Black. "We only heard that the competition was going to be open to other players just two weeks before the start of the first game." "Other teams had already been practicing with their full roaster of players from almost two months before." However, despite the short notice they were able to put together a strong group made up of die-hard Tuff E Nuff employee ballers as well as a contingent of ex semi-pro players of their own, including team captain, former semi-pro basketball MVP and member of the Belize national basketball team, Keith Acosta.

"Tuff E Nuff is no stranger to basketball," says Black, "In fact, Tuff E Nuff has already won two inter-office championships for San Pedro." They are the only team on the island to have done so. Whenever Tuff E Nuff is in the competition, Black says, they are "always in the fight" to take home the trophy back to the island and play hard to make San Pedro proud. Black notes that what makes him feel so confident about his current team is the fact that, as he sees it, there are no 'weak links' on the squad; "we have very good players at each position� any player coming off the bench is a good as the player they are substituting for� all of our players are real players� well rounded� have tons of experience." According to Black the team is filled with players who are more than just teammates, but more like a family, who are dedicated, strong competitors, who know the game and are playing not just for the team but for San Pedro as well.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos in the San Pedro Sun