Too many teams - Martin concerned about quality of Southern Basketball competition

Calvin Martin, president of the Southern Conference Community Basketball competition is concerned about the quality of play in this year's competition.

The competition, which is played among teams in Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine, attracted 30 teams.

Martin said the volume of teams and the lack of preparedness of some resulted in the drop in standard.

"I think some of the teams need to spend more time preparing. In any sport when you have more than 12 teams, you are going to find that there are nights when you have lame games but when we reach the play-off rounds, I am hoping to see better quality basketball in this round," he said.

Major role

The league management implemented a series of coaching development course because of its concern.

The Southern Conference competition is the most popular basketball in the island, attracting many current and former national players.

The league also played a major role in helping to develop Jamaica's junior national players who use the competition to improve their craft.

Martin added that the support for the competition improved significantly over the years despite the loss of sponsorship.

"The fan support for the league has been growing tremendously comparing to last year," said Martin.

However, despite huge popularity of the competition, the league failed to attract a main sponsor, with the Social Development Foundation being the only sponsors.

The play-offs round of the competition is set to begin in two weeks with Arnett Gardens Rockers are the defending champions.