SOLOMON ISLAND BASKETBALL FEDERATION

P O Box 181, Honiara Solomon Islands TELEPHONE: (677) 27354 FAX: (677) 25686. Email: 3xq@solomon.com.sb Lawrence Quan (Patron), hatigevf@anz.com Freda Matangi (President), kilokogolden@hotmail.com (NBDO)

17^th of December 2007

2007 ACTIVITY REPORT

Introduction

2007 is a challenging year for basketball but I`m not hesitate to say here that we have achieved some of our goals, especially the introducing of the Women`s basket program, the recent tour of our Men`s and Women`s national teams to Australia as part of their preparation to the Pacific Games in Samoa, participating at the Samoa Pacific Games despite of financial difficulties and also other domestics basketball development. And on this note, I would like to sincerely thanks the many Volunteers who had helped in making our programs successful this year, and to our partners for providing the technical and financial back up in order for our basketball program to move especially the FIBA Oceania, ONOC, NOCSI, NSC and the Solomon Island Basketball Federation, and also to the aid donors for their financial support. We look forward to a better working relationship in 2008.

2007 Australian Tour

The Solomon Islands Basketball Federation used the acquired funding from the IOC to send both the Men's and Women's National Basketball Teams to Australia on a 12 day tour. Leaving from Honiara, Solomon Islands on 12^th June and returning on Saturday 23^rd June were 13 male athletes, 12 female athletes, 2 coaches, 2 team managers and 2 referees. In addition to this, another Solomon Island male basketball athlete residing in New Zealand joined the tour group to participate in the tour program. The tour started in Brisbane, Australia before moving on to Coffs Harbour where the FIBA Oceania office is based. This is where the tour matches and trainings were based from.

TOUR OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the tour were as follows:

1.       Play opposition of a challenging standard that is not possible in Solomon Islands to assist with the preparation for the Men's Women's Squads in the lead up to the South Pacific Games in Samoa, Apia.

2.       Give international exposure and experience to all athletes, officials and referees

3.       Assist with the selection process for the final Men's and Women's teams to attend the South Pacific Games.

4.       Give the opportunity for all athletes and officials to bond as a group and grow as a team

Transworld Basketball League

One of the main focused of the Transworld Basketball Committee this year was to revamp the administrative and technical support for basketball in Honiara, and also in the country. The competition was kicked off in early April with the launching at the multi purpose hall and was attended by the FIBA Zone development officer Mr. Jon Hoyle.

The competition was made of eight (8) male teams and eight (8) female teams. The TCBC had completed its competition in early August 2007 with four (4) male teams and four (4) female teams went thru the top four knock stages, and the best two teams from mens and womens category Minto Blazers (M) and Sunrise (W) were came out winners of the 2007 Transworld Basketball competition.

The Presentation of prizes will held in two weeks time which will also coincide with a proposed appreciation function will be hosted by the Solomon Island Basketball Federation for the Mens and Womens team for their great performances at the recent Pacific Games in Samoa.

ZONE Development Officers Tour

Eddie `Calic was in the country in August 2007 as part of the FIBA Oceania development program to Solomon Islands. It was his first visit to Solomon Island since taking up the job some few years back. It was a great opportunity to have him especially grasping his knowledge of basketball while here which was really assisting us in some of the areas that needs to improves in the development of basketball in the country. Eddie had worked   tirelessly with our Mens & Womens teams on their preparation to the recent Pacific Games in Samoa, conducting of school kids basic fundamental skills which shown great interest of kids of more than eighty (80) attending the one week basketball program, having several meetings with SIBF on the future of basketball and also strengthening and having a vibrant federation, and also inspecting all the existing and available basketball facilities in and around Honiara. He was also assisting our three (3) senior referees who had officiated at the recent SPG on the 3 man referees concept. I must say that it was a successful tour program and would like to thanks Eddie for the basketball knowledge that he passed on with us (SIBF) and also FIBA Oceania for making the trip possible and looking forward for similar assistance in the futures.

Pacific Games

The initial planning for the selection of the National Basketball Squad was completed in June 2006. This was done before the Solomon Games held in Makita province, to enable the Federation to make the most of every opportunity to assess potential representatives of Solomon Islands at the South Pacific Games.

The format for selection was taken very seriously by all members of the federation and coaching staff. This process included the observation of player performance in the Solomon Games Basketball Tournament, the Honiara Basketball League (HBL) and the SIBF U/20 competition. These competitions spanned from June 2006 to November 2006 giving a total of 5 months. Throughout this time player evaluation sheets were completed on each player in the HBL to provide a fair assessment and selection process for all possible basketball players. Consideration was also given to achievements of international basketball players in the USA, Fiji and New Zealand to be included in the squad.

The initial squad of 25 players was announced in November 2006, and the first training date of 8^th January 2007 was announced to allow the athlete's time to prepare for the training program, and also to start preparations for the South Pacific Games a total of 8 months before the opening.

In March 2007 both the Men's and Women's National Basketball Squads were reduced to a total 16 athletes, which included international players Wage Trukese (USA), Anthony Prince (NZ), Gavin Bare (Fiji), Trevor Katie's (Fiji) and Lisa Wine (Fiji).

From that time the squads continued to train until the final selection which was announced 3 weeks prior to the team's departure for the South Pacific Games. This thorough selection process has proved to be successful in selecting athletes to represent the country that have the right attitude, skills, fitness, commitment and work ethic.

Preparation for the Men's and Women's Basketball Squads commenced on 8^th January 2007. The squads started training twice a week which grew to as much as 5 times a week as the training progressed. Trainings were usually held at the Multi-purpose hall, but outdoor courts were also used as trainings increased and the Multi-purpose hall was not available.

As apart of our SPG preparation a tour to Brisbane, Australia was organized. This was to assist with the development of the team and the final selection of the team. The tour included regular training sessions, 6 Men's matches and 7 Women's matches with Senior State League team in and around Coffs Harbor, the home of FIBA Oceania.

The Squad's were boosted with the help of two FIBA Oceania Zone Development officers who visited for a period of 10 days each during 2007. Jon Hoyle and Eddie Calic were of great benefit to the training of the National Teams, including players, coaches and referees.

Fitness testing in the months prior to the games was very beneficial. NOCSI administration must be commended for initiating such a strategy which no doubt benefited all sports that attended the games. The results of basketball athletes improved as the testing continued which was a satisfying reward for those athletes that had trained hard

RECOMMENDATIONS

1.       The basketball teams need access to suitable training facility. The Multi-purpose Hall is not of the standard of which international competition is played. Further equipment is required to be put in place, such as 24 second shot clock, glass back boards and a firm and well polished and maintained floor.

2.       Access to the basketball court is required on a daily basis, with the use of the full court. It is important that athletes are given the opportunity to improve their skills such as shooting on a daily basis.

3.       Outdoor basketball courts should be erected to allow athletes to train individually. Although these courts are not suitable for intense training of national teams, they can be beneficial for individual training sessions, junior competitions for future national representatives and to give opportunities for all to participate and thus invest in the future of the sport.

4.  Further improvement of local competitions will assist the development of the skills of all involvedbasketball players. With the support from NOCSI the objective is to develop a local competition of the standard of the South Pacific Games in terms of administration, intensity, sportsmanship, fundamental skill level and coaching ability. Rather than focusing on just the few players that are selected in the national team, it is important to develop a competitive culture and a strong competition that encourages athletes to develop their own skills to perform at their best and thus assist Solomon Islands to perform at its best.

5.       Continued fitness testing in the future. However this testing should be better structured, communicated and organized to take as little time as possible for athletes to complete. The focus of this testing should also be to encouraged as an opportunity for athletes to improve their fitness level, rather than a focus of athletes or sports not achieving specific targets.

6.       A running of a Team Managers workshop in Honiara some months before the games so that Team Managers from all sports can be trained with the relevant skills. This would include the development of weekly and daily schedules, pre-competition preparation, post-competition activities, information regarding the importance of hydration and nutrition (eg. how much water athletes should drink, what type of foods to eat, how long before competition an athlete should eat etc.), transportation logistics, keeping team equipment secure, development of basic team rules and team discipline.

7.       Basketball players must gain more international experience through international tournaments and tours. It is only through playing stronger opponents from other countries that will enable the athletes to improve.

Thank you for the support that has enabled us to achieve these fantastic results.

Australian High Commissioners Womens Basketball program

The Solomon Island Basketball Federation had met and finalized the womens basketball program which was funded by the Australian High Commission. The program was set to kick off on 14^th to 19^th October 2007, it will kick off with a workshop on nutrition &health and also on issues which relate to womens, and later concentrate on the technical aspect basketball interms of conducting of basic coaching, referees, bench and also organizing of competition for all womens participants.

On the ball and the move was a new basketball concept introduced by FIBA Oceania for developing women`s basketball in the region apart from Women's world champ and New Zealand. Infact the Solomon Island Basketball Federation was of the Federation that benefited from the program through funding from Australian High Commission in Honiara.

It was really as successful program, the program was basically introduced basketball to those women who had never played or touch basketball in their life's, further assist women who are currently playing on their personal skills, assist regaining interests to those who were no longer playing basketball.

Any way, the program was coordinated by Evelyn Pongi with the assistance of some of the females whohave had experience in the administration of basketball, and also technically assisted by Ryan Burns. We have good number of females who had taken part in the program, especially the beginners. The program was ended with a small social competition to give taste of what they've have learnt during the course. It was a successful program and the SIBF is confident to host any bigger Women's basketball program in the future. On this note, I would like on be half of the SIBF to sincerely thanks the FBA Oceania for initiating the idea and also for submitting the project on our behalf and also a big thanks to the Australian High Commissioner for its ongoing assistance in the development of basketball in the country, especially in the development women's basketball, and we are looking forward for a better working relation in 2008.

2007 Primary School basketball competition

The primary school basketball competition was kick off in November, the competition was year marked for early this year but was not possible because of the heavy used of the only gym in Honiara by other sports at the recent SPG. Any way, Ten (10) primary schools had participated in the competition on both boys and girls category which was made up to 10 boys team and 10 girls team. The competition was split up into two pools of 5 teams each on both categories.

The primary school competition had attracted a lot of young kids, the kids are mostly those who attended Eddie`s coaching when he was here in August. We had witness the gym packed with kids every day playing basketball during the competition. It was really encouraging to see kids walking on the streets with a basketball. The competition was conducted by mostly high school students on refereeing & tournament management with the assistance of me and Ryan Burns. The primary school committee had decided and put a halt on the competition early this month to give time to kids for the Christmas and New Year holiday and will resume again on the end of February 2008.

Schools that took part in the Primary school competition are

1.       Burns Creek (Boys & Girls)

2.       Panatinal (Boys & Girls)

3.       Mbua Valley (Boys & Girls)

4.       Florence Young (Boys & Girls)

5.       White River (Boys & Girls)

6.       Mbokonavera (Boys & Girls

7.       Tamlan (Boys & Girls)

8.       Bishop Epalle (Boys & Girls)

9.       Vura (Boys & Girls)

10.   Kukum SDA ( Boys & Girls)

Conclusion

I would like to say that we`ve achieved some of goals this year despite of the many challenges and I would like to sincerely thanks every one their support in the successful basketball programs this year 2007, and look forward for a better working relationship in 2008. Have a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year 2008.