Berbice Basketball Association President Keith Myers
The Berbice Basketball Association (BBA) has moved one step toward being able to source assistance from the international body for the development of the sport in Berbice.
This follows the holding of elections for office bearers of the sub association. Keith Myers is the new President of BBA.
Myers received tremendous support from clubs in both East and West Berbice at the elections, which were held at the Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry’s Smithfield Drop-in Centre in New Amsterdam on Sunday.
The first vice president is Amanda Henry of Rose Hall Town with former national distance runner Neil Rudder as the second vice president.
The third vice president is Robbert Esseboom while Petra Ford was voted as the secretary for the association.
The association’s treasurer is Ryan Alexander and the assistant secretary/treasurer is Pinky Author.
Eli Hazel is the public relations officer (PRO).
The association has named former Chief Labour Officer Norman Semple as advisor to the executive committee.
In a brief statement after the elections the newly elected president said while clubs on the West Berbice were not represented on the executive, it is a start towards the resuscitation of basketball in Berbice.
None of the West Berbice club officials attended the elections and were therefore not eligible for election.
‘Defunct’
Former president of the ‘defunct’ BBA under the old constitution Kirk Fraser did not attend the elections. Fraser had been accused of running a one-man show forcing both corporate citizens and interested persons to distance themselves from the sport in Berbice.
Fraser had been responsible for the staging of the Mackeson tournament for teams in Berbice, for which the final is still to be played.
The semifinal of that competition was held in July last year and, for the past six months, players of Canje Nights and Smithfield Rockers have been forced to sit on the bench awaiting a call to contest the final.
Since then players were able to visit the court again in competitive basketball on January 19 when the Anamayah Memorial tournament commenced.
While there has been some amount of the sport being played in the county, none of the competitions were being sanctioned by the Guyana Amateur Basketball Association (GABA).
However, Myers says this is expected to change with the installation of a duly constituted executive.
By Guyana Times