The Bahamas Basket-ball Federation (BBF) will add to their pool of coaches after 40 individuals completed a three-day coaching clinic, which was hosted by American Larry Brown, a well-known and respected coach affiliated with the FIBA Americas.

According to president of the BBF, Lawrence Hepburn, the coaches who successfully completed the two-part series course will be awarded Level I certification. The markings from the practical and theory sessions will be done by FIBA Americas, which will reveal the names of the qualified coaches to Hepburn, in the coming weeks.

"It was a great success, we had almost 40 coaches in the room," said Hepburn. "In terms of participation, that is the most we have ever had. I still don't think that the communication on the hosting of the event was as clear as we wanted it to be, but nonetheless, some 40 persons showed up and it was great.

"Their participation and attendance was good. In fact, one of the comments given by the instructor was that he was so impressed with the attentiveness of the coaches. He said that he has never seen a group who was so attentive. He was pleased to see that no one was nodding. He said that people were asking questions and that everyone was focused on what he was doing and saying.

"He was very impressed with that and the interactive ways of some of the coaches there. He had to sometimes moved from the basic introductory stuff to the more elite stuff because we had some veteran coaches in there who might have fallen off if he had stayed with some of the basics, so he had to mix it up, move up and down with the lesson. Using that technique, he was able to keep everyone focused."

The overwhelming response to the clinic has Hepburn optimistic about the future of the sport. Hepburn believes that the federation now sits in a pretty good position when it comes to coaches.

He stated that the latest achievement by the coaches doesn't automatically give them a national coaching job, but he said the addition will make the selection process for coaches a lot more open.

He said: "It gives rise to the program but it doesn't mean that one is a national team coach, but it does make the process a lot more open. A lot of coaches who wanted to coach said that they have been denied opportunities because they figured that they didn't have this document. Some of them specifically said that now that they have this document they will be able to sit on the bench as a national coach, but my practical interest is to see coaches go back to their relative programs with the knowledge that they have gained and develop their kids. This is being done in some of the remote Family Islands. We hope to see this transcend into the school games. Most importantly, the primary school teachers that I saw there, I know that they are going to go back and develop a more skilled program, so even our kids at a young age, they will be coming up with the fundamentals of the game."

In related news the BBF National Championships will tip off tonight at the Grace Community Gym in Marsh Harbour, Abaco. About 10 teams from around the country are expected to participate.

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