www.bviolympics.com Basketball TORTOLA—Rosters are due by Saturday April 19, for all teams intending to play in the BVI Basketball Federation league that opens on May 10, Federation president Guy “The General” Malone said. Rosters will be collected at the Multipurpose Sports Complex between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Malone said while there’s not a registration fee, no rosters will be accepted without the mandatory $150 insurance levy.
Following a recent meeting with coaches and managers, he said a committee has been selected to help plan the league and make it a success.
“We want to make this league better than it was last year with respect to the level of competition,” Malone said. “When you look at what the B league offered, we find that the fundamental levels of the game is lacking among the youngsters.”
The plan this year Malone said is to introduce mini basketball targeting 5-12 year olds. He said a meeting will be held with acting Director of Youth Affairs and Sports Patrick Harrigan to hammer out the details of getting it introduced in schools. “One of the things we find is that coaches are complaining that it’s difficult to work with players who have developed bad habits early on,” he said. “We want to work hard on introducing that mini basket, and also introducing the game among girls to capitalize on what was identified in the inter-secondary schools tournament between those playing in the Elmore Stoutt High School and the Bregado Flax Educational Center and others who are interested.”
When asked about the number of teams expected for the league, Malone said he’s hearing there might not be many senior teams since the competition is in the intermediate division. He said he’d like to see an increase in the number of junior teams and that’s why they are asking for rosters by Saturday to give them time and put a good schedule together. Malone said among their plans to enhance the league is to have every Saturday night as the marquee games. They will also be introducing a player of the week in each division. “With respect to how many teams, it’s hard to say,” he said. “Everybody is telling me we’ll have no more than four A division teams as several players have dropped down to the intermediate division where all the competition is, so I’ll be looking for a lot of teams there.”
Following a meeting with referees on Tuesday, Malone said they are working on bringing in certified FIFA referees from St. Croix for a one day clinic on April 26 at the Multipurpose Sports Complex. Malone said every aspect from positioning on the ground, communicating with scorers will be covered to help raise the level of basketball.
“Having good referees and referees coming on time has put a damper on the league,” he recalled. “The manager of the Multipurpose Sports Complex has informed us that a timer has been placed on the air conditioning system to go off at midnight, so we have to get games stared on time. We need to step up the refereeing we’ve had in the past if we want to really ensure that we’ll raise the level of basketball.” © Copyright 2007 BVI Olympic Committee |