Anticipation is high ahead of this month’s start of the South Conference Community Division One Basketball Championships, which is scheduled to begin on February 27 at the National Stadium courts.

One of the most popular basketball competitions in Jamaica, the South Conference Community Division One Basketball Championships will be making its return to the local basketball calendar after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Calvin Martin, vice-president of the Southern Conference, told the Jamaica Observer that 19 teams have registered to compete in this year’s competition, which is scheduled to run for 12 weeks.

“We are excited to have this competition after that stoppage due to the COVID-19 pandemic…and so we just want the teams to get themselves reorganised and to come back to competition,” said Martin.

“We are opening the league for all players to participate this year without worrying about eligibility. So far the teams have been very enthusiastic and everybody is looking forward to competing, because after such a long break, it is difficult to gauge what the quality of play is going to be from the players,” Martin said.

Martin pointed out that the Division One competition is a vital plank in the development of the sport in Jamaica because this is where a lot of the young people develop their skills playing against their senior counterparts.

“The Division One basketball competition serves several purposes because it caters for the organised clubs and it also caters for the community, which is our major focus,” he said.

He noted that it will cost his organisation $2 million to stage this year’s competition, and said negotiations are ongoing with a number of potential sponsors.

Martin also stated that the matches will be played across several communities across the island.

“This year we have some new venues because matches will be played at CMU [Caribbean Maritime University], Mico, Exed Community College along Majesty Gardens, Edgewater, Cedar Grove and Calabar High School,” he said.

“We are hoping that the community members will come out and support their respective teams. This competition also takes persons into communities that they would not normally go to and it has also opened a lot of relationships across various communities,” he added.

Martin said that there is also an economic component to the competition.

“It also adds economic benefits to the communities, because once teams goes there, then you know that they buy things at the shops and so it is a win all for everybody,” he said.

— Robert Bailey