SBC steps up basketball promotion in communities

Following a drop in the number of entrants for this season Southern Conference Basketball (SBC) Howard McCathy Community Basketball League, SBC president, Calvin Martin, says that his organisation will try a number of promotional activities to revive some former teams and encourage youth participation and development.

According to the former Jamaica Basketball Association (JABA) interim president, the SBC has mandated that all participating teams should have an under-13 group and will also host a test tournament during the course of the season, which tips off at Pembroke Hall Courts next Saturday at 3:00 p.m. They will host a number of basketball activities in participating communities and the communities of former clubs to help rejuvenate some dormant teams.

"We have less teams this year, we only have 20 this year and we had 25 last season. There have been a lot of reasons (for teams dropping out), there's financial, some teams don't want to go to certain places, while some teams no longer exist.

Promotions in gear

"So we are seeking to do some promotional things in the communities of teams that don't exist again and bring back some of the old teams like Rollington Town, Franklyn Town, Seaview, Bull Bay, Olympic Way, and Liguanea Lions.

"We are planning to do some work during this league. We will do some 3-on-3 tournaments. We will also start a community under-13, as we are trying to get all the teams to have an under-13 group," he said.

"Most have their under-13 team as they have been mandated to. The only club that may not have an under-13 team is Police. We are looking to have that in tournament format.The tournament will be done in three parts. There will be the preliminaries on the first two days, and on the final day, there will be a playoffs with the top four teams," he explained.

However, he noted that there may be an issue with adequate venues but believes, there are enough playing courts to accommodate the tournament.

"We will be using our regular courts. The opening will be at Pembroke Hall, but there will not many games there apart from the opening because Pembroke Hall is not playing.

"The others (courts) are Edgewater, Majesty Gardens, Payne Land, Arnett Gardens, and Harbour View. We are hoping Rae Town can host some games and we were thinking of going to Spanish Town, but with the state of emergency, we decided not to go, although (Spanish Town) Spartans has a brand-new court," he said.