Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

The delay to the start of the National Basketball League (NBL) has left a number of the island's top clubs frustrated.

The NBL, which was scheduled to begin in April, has been postponed on a number of occasions. This has also resulted in a number of teams boycotting the pre-season games, which are currently under way and are organised by the Jamaica Basketball Association (JBA).

"The players on my team are very frustrated because they have been training for about six months now and all now the league can't start," said Calvin Martin, coach of defending champions Urban Knights.

"It has affected us a lot because we have to pay coaches salaries and players have to pay their bus fare to travel to training and these are not expenditures that we are going to recover when the competition starts," said Martin, who is also the president of the Southern Basketball Conference.

"I think that all the other teams are very frustrated at this time," he added.

Expenses

Oneil Williams, coach of Port Royal Bulls, beaten finalists in last year's competition, agreed with Martin and said the delay would affect their chances.

"I think that this will affect our team's chances of winning the competition because I don't think that the players are going to be that motivated enough again when it starts," said Williams.

"Some of our players have stopped coming to training because they say that they are paying too much bus fare to travel to practice," Williams said.

He said he asked the JBA about the start of the competition but was yet to receive a favourable response.

"My players are very frustrated with it because every time they call asking when the league is going to start, and I can't give them an answer," said Williams.

Richard Rowe, manager of Majesty Gardens, who were knocked out in the semi-final stage last year, said the delay has affected his team financially.

"It has affected our finances because we are preparing and we are arranging practice matches and it costs us to host these practice games, as this includes transportation and refreshments," said Rowe, who is also the vice-president of the Southern Conference Basketball Association.

Training methods affected

Rowe added that it has also affected his team's training methods.

"It has affected our training programme because when you are expecting to start competition at a certain time, you train with that intention, and so when the time comes and it does not happen, it throws off the young men who are working hard for this," said Rowe.

He stated that he sent a letter to the JBA regarding the delay of the competition and was now awaiting a response from them.

"I have written to the association and I have outlined some concerns that I have and some of them have to do with the fact that there are some important issues to be worked out before the competition starts, and I am now awaiting a response from them," Rowe said.

When contacted, Ajani Williams, president of the JBA, told The Gleaner that they were still finalising sponsorship agreements.

"We are trying to finalise the arrangements with the sponsors, which is relatively close in terms of tying down everybody and dates to merge because different people are sponsoring activities," Williams said.

"There are a couple of things that we are working through with one of our sponsors and it is almost done, but we cannot start unless the money is there," he added.

Williams was unable to say exactly when the competition would start.