NEWLY elected president of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) Nigel Hinds is wasting no time in getting to work on restoring the sport to the glory it once enjoyed in the days when Guyana was a regional dominant force. 

“Vice-president Michael Singh and I would be heading to Puerto Rico for the CBC Congress this Saturday. So much has been happening around us and the fact that we just sat here and were doing nothing, we were left behind. There were some changes made coming from FIBA and we want to catch up,” the GABF said.
The Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) had summoned their affiliates to meet in Puerto Rico, where a number of issues, primarily that of its Championships, which will be played in the British Virgin Island July 1-5 with the Men’s tournament and the women July 8-12.
“Guyana is sending two teams to that championship” Hinds said, adding “But with that comes with a number of responsibilities and we at the GABF are prepared to go into overdrive immediately – which makes our going to the Congress very important. It’s costly but we understand the importance so we will be funding ourselves. It’s important to understand that nothing is handed over to us (the new executives) as yet but we understand the importance. It’s something we have to do”
Hinds told Chronicle Sport that the CBC has announced that come 2015, none of its affiliate national associations will be allowed to participate in the Championship, unless they participate at the junior games – something he fully supports.
“This is something that had to be done, because it will force some of those Federations that do absolutely nothing and also force you to invest in the youth which in turn means that you will have a nursery of players”.
He added, “With that, we have to also get YBG (Youth Basketball Guyana) on board, have them a part of the GABF and lend support to what they have been doing over the years with youth basketball. It’s important that we sit with them and iron out whatever issues they had with the previous administration and let’s get things rolling from now.”
Looking ahead, Hinds said that from now the “CBC Championship is the GABF’s immediate focus. We will be hosting our inter-association championship in February and that will serve as our selection process and then we’ll work on getting those guys together and having them properly prepared. They did well at the last championship and we’ll be working hard to make sure that they have an even better result this time around.”
However, Hinds explained that he will have to bring his profession in to work while highlighting the GABF’s challenge financing its programme.
“I’m a certified public accountant and I do have a lot of people who are willing and ready to lend support. I have devised a plan prior to contesting the elections, on how we can make the game of basketball marketable again and how we will go about engaging corporate Guyana and most importantly, the Government of Guyana” Hinds noted.
The former National basketball player said that upon his return from the CBC Congress, he will sit with his executives to further discuss how they will tackle a challenge. He says that will need everyone’s commitment and support.
“This is where we will have to call on the likes of Digicel, GT&T, Ansa McAl, Banks DIH and other major stakeholders. I know that they would have already committed to doing other stuff, but we’ll have to convince them that this process is worthwhile supporting Basketball. I think in the past accountability was an issue and I’ll have to assure them somehow that we’re turning a new page in the sport,” Hinds said.

(By Rawle Toney)