AFTER more than a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic the South Conference Community Division One Basketball Championships is set to make its return to the local basketball calendar next year.

One of the most popular basketball competitions in Jamaica, the South Conference Community Division One Basketball Championships is scheduled to restart on February 26, 2023.

Calvin Martin, vice-president of the Southern Conference, said his organisation is very delighted that they have finalised a date for the start of the championships. He said a lot of the teams have started training and he is now in the process of finalising sponsorship for the competition.

“Currently we are organising the administration and funding part, we are preparing our proposals to submit to potential sponsors what we have been in dialogue with, because we have notified them of our start date,” said Martin.

“Some of the teams have started preparations for the competition and we also intend to do previews on our social media pages so as to increase the awareness of this competition,” he added.

Martin shared that the Division One competition forms a very crucial part of the development of the sport in Jamaica because this is where a lot of the youngsters 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.

“It allows for the growth of our young players because it allows these young players that are under the age of 21 to play in this competition [and] also in the National Basketball League at the same time, whenever there is one,” Martin said.

He noted that the competition is scheduled to run for three months but admitted that there is an outstanding matter regarding $2 million that is required to successfully stage the championships.

Rohan Robinson, coach of defending champions Exed Heat, said he is also happy that the competition will resume next year because his players are looking forward to competing.

“We are definitely happy that this competition will resume next year because it is over three years since this tournament was last played due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Robinson.

“The Southern Conference Basketball league is one of our main leagues in the country with over 30 teams participating the last time we had it, so a lot of my players are looking forward to it.

“This is where we find a lot of the young talents and it also brings the community together because the games are played in the communities right throughout the island,” he went on.

— Robert Bailey