Sunday’s successful ‘Hoops for Haiti’ fundraising venture organised by the newly elected executive of the Western Basketball Association (WBA) led by Donalda Reid signalled a new and refreshing start.

To date, the basketball double-header at the Montego Bay Cricket Club, which also included entertainment led by Digicel Rising Star winner Brown Sugar, is still the only fundraising event organised by a sporting body in the island and that speaks to the vision of the new body.

The new president has promised sweeping changes and on Sunday the public address announcer repeatedly announced that all WBAS events would be drug-free, indicating that ganja smoking will not be tolerated in the stands anymore.

This is another good sign, and hopefully the new sheriff will be able to make significant changes both on and off the court if the sport is to continue to inch its way forward.

Presently the WBA trails behind the Southern and Central Conferences, not only at the club level but also at the schoolboys’ level and if this is to change any time soon, serious development work including the formation of an Under 14 league must be the way forward.

Another area that the new WBA executive must start looking into with some urgency is the recruiting and training of new referees.

While no one can honestly say any of the present officials are dishonest, the more officials there are, the better off the league will be.

In the same way clubs are asked to have certified coaches and table officials to be eligible to take part in WBA-run competitions, the clubs at all levels, and even the schools that take part in the ISSA/KFA leagues, should be encouraged to submit their brightest minds to take part in referees’ seminars.

Seeing the same three or four referees all season long and then in the play-offs cannot be good for the league or the officials.

The WBA could look into ensuring that when the play-offs come around officials from other conferences are brought in and likewise our officials be sent to oversee games in other conferences.

One gets the impression, however, that the new WBA executive is off to a positive start and has laid a solid foundation for meaningful growth.