Nassau Guardian: Freeport, Grand Bahama - With approximately 300 visitors including quite a
few basketball players preparing to arrive on Grand Bahama, executive
members in the Bahamas Basketball Federation (BBF) are hoping that the
Junkanoo Jam Basketball Tournament give the island's economy a much
needed boost.
The ninth annual tournament is set for
November 26-28, at the
St.
George's High School. The 12 teams competing will arrive on November
20. With the increase in entries, BBF President Lawrence Hepburn is
currently making preparations to ensure a smooth tournament. Teams and
schools competing in this year's tournament include UNC Charlotte,
George Washington University, Indiana College, Kansas State, Michigan
State, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, South Dakota State, Texas Christian,
Virginia, Xavier University and Marist College.
"This tournament is a tremendous boost to Grand Bahama," said
Hepburn. "The tournament ignites a lot of sectors here including
hotels, bus companies, along with various business corporations. There
is so much revenue, even before the first jump ball. There are things
we as executive members need to do to ensure that everything is in
place for the tournament. We have to get the assistance from the ice
house companies, printing places... so the work doesn't start when the
teams reach. The injection into the country started from Monday past
and will continue until November 29. I think that there are about 150
hotel rooms reserved at the Lucaya for that week. That is quite a boost
to me. This is a plus because when we have these hard times in the
communities, we need to have injections like that. This is why I am
employ the people to come out and support the tournament, even if it is
just to say thank you to the teams for coming," he added.
The teams will be divided into three pools with two games counting
toward their win/loss record in the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA). The pools are the Reef Division, Freeport Division
and the Lucaya Division.
Although the tournament has seen an increase in teams, the biggest
concern for Hepburn and the BBF's executive team this year, is the
state of the gym. According to the president, the gym has to meet
international specifications before play can commence. This, he said,
can be very costly for the federation, which is also trying to find
ways to lighten the expense load. One of the ways being explored by
Hepburn and the federation is hiring persons from Grand Bahama to
assist with the preparation.
He said: "This is a costly tournament and we are looking for ways
where everyone can benefit. Realizing that these are financial hard
times for everyone in the world, the federation had to cut costs on
some things. One of the cost-cutting measures was employing persons out
of the Grand Bahama community to work with us during the tournament. It
is costly moving persons from New Providence into Grand Bahama.
"Even though we've done this, that wasn't the biggest bill we got in
the past. Our greatest cost during the course of the tournament is the
maintenance of the gym. The gym is in fairly good condition. We only
have to do the cleaning, so when we come in we have to employ the
services of a janitorial company to work and do a general clean and
wax. It is very expensive trying to bring the gym to international
standards. This problem comes in because the gym is ran all year long
with less or no upkeep. Last year we had to get the floor repaired,
which was also very expensive.
"From time to time we've had various government agencies come out
and assist us, but we realize that it is hard to get the financial
backing of companies, so we are down here now doing promotions and
other little things that needs to be done around here to ensure that a
tournament of this magnitude runs smoothly."
The BBF is asking persons to come and support the event. Tickets for the tournament will be available from November 22.
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