The future of basketball discussed |13 February 2018

The Seychelles Basketball Federation executive committee met coaches on Saturday to discuss changes in the basketball league for 2018. This was done at the training centre at Stad Popiler.

Many ideas were thrown about at the meeting on how to develop basketball in the future, in line with the International Basket Federation (Fiba) regulations. This, however, was just a forum where the basketball committee discussed with basketball coaches what changes they believe need to be made to help basketball move forward. One of the main attendees was Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (Socga) president Antonio Gopal, who along with the coaches shared his views about how basketball can be improved.

Fiba expert Rosen Barchovski, who recently arrived in Seychelles and has been working closely with the SBF, was also present.

Many statements were put forward at this meeting including rules, regulations and even technical official discussions. Ways of improving fan base was also discussed as fans help bring both finance and motivation to a team. This was, in fact, one of the main topics during the meeting.

Seychelles Basketball Federation SBF) chairman Terry Celeste and some members of the executive committee presented the coaches with many ideas how to help basketball move forward.

“We should not be thinking of the past and all the things that have gone wrong. We have to look to the future so that we can build a better image of basketball. We’ve had different problems in the past with matches not starting on time among others, but the purpose of us being here today, is to see how do we learn and move forward,” said chairman Celeste.

Some of the members who were present are secretary general Adrian Pillay, disciplinary committee chairman Eric Savy, Mark Figaro, Tony Juliette and Simone Malbrook.

One decision that was made official was that the National Basketball Technical Committee (NBTC) will as from this year only be responsible for the smooth running of matches and make sure officials are present for games. It is the disciplinary committee that will hear cases of indiscipline.

Among the many plans it has for the future, the SBF wants to groom at least one referee who will be able to officiate internationally.

Although no decision was taken as to when the league will start, the best-of-three first division playoff started yesterday between Premium Cobras Youth and MBU Boyz.

Rodney Rose