Local fans of the National Basketball Association (NBA) may very well get the chance to see stars from at least two of the league’s top teams train in Jamaica ahead of the 2011-2012 season, as Sports Minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange intensifies discussions with the organisation’s bosses.
In fact, two teams were scheduled to stage their pre-season training camps in Jamaica earlier this year ahead of the ongoing season, but things fell through largely because of the Tivoli Gardens incursion on Labour Day.
It was during this time that a site visit and other activities were planned with top NBA officials, but a decision was later taken to move the considerations to the lead-up to next season.
“We have been in discussion with the NBA at the level of the president and the vice-president and we have a proposal from them,” said Grange during an exclusive interview with The Sunday Gleaner. “They were scheduled to select two teams to do pre-season training in Jamaica in September/October of this year.
“They had not at that point identified the teams, but they had agreed to take two teams here and they were to come in June to do their site visits. Dates were set and confirmed and then the problems that we had (in Tivoli Gardens) threw everything off,” Grange continued.
It is understood that the National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC) in Kingston was being considered at the time, given the availability of a hardwood playing surface and regulation ceiling height. However, there were reportedly concerns from the NBA officials that gym facilities were not attached to the venue, and also a noted preference to staging the camps in one of the island’s preferred tourism destinations.
Resort environment
“Eventually we all agreed that we would pursue the discussion for next season. To an extent, it will perhaps turn out to be a better decision, because the only place we could take them for the training would have been in Kingston at the NISC, but they also wanted to be in a resort environment for it to also feel like a vacation,” Grange explained.
Next month’s scheduled opening of the Montego Bay Convention Centre has provided Grange and her team with the perfect opportunity to meet all the requests, and there are already plans to temporarily move the hardwood flooring at the NISC to facilitate the usage of the convention centre.
“We checked the convention centre and we were satisfied that there was enough height, and the ceiling would allow for training sessions to be held there. We also have the (hardwood) floors that we can move down there. They would also want to use a facility that has a gym, or is close to a gym, and so Gymkhana is close by so that wouldn’t be an issue either,” said Grange. “So we decided that we are going to have them take a look, not only at Kingston and the facilities there, but also go to Montego Bay and have a look so that they would have an option.”
There are also plans to have the camps aired on popular US-based sports networks in an attempt to drive the nation’s sports tourism thrust.
“Our sports tourism programme is really getting very intense, and this is just one of many things that we have lined up that will play a major role in pushing us along this path,” Grange added.
Source: The Sunday Gleaner
