Renbel province kicked off the New Year with some official basketball action when the Solomon Islands Basketball Federation (SIBF) made a visit to the island of Bellona to hold basketball courses and organize competitions for men, women and youths.
National basketball development officer (NBDO), David Moses Kivo and Basketball referee/ official, Fa’amoana Topue travelled to Bellona on 2nd January, 2014 and organized mix competitions and conducted introductory courses on coaching and refereeing for interested players and local island basketball enthusiasts on the island.
According to Mr Kivo, the one week basketball program was one of the best so far to be conducted in the province and this was evident from the positive turnout and response given towards SIBF’s vision and goal of re-igniting basketball in the provinces.
“With the added presence of our SIBF president Brian Pongotapu and his Vice Ms Delma Nori, both of whom were on holiday when we conducted the program, we were able successfully complete the four day program on a high note and finish off with a one day mix gender competition for members of the communities on Bellona island,” Mr Kivo stated.
“We hired the only basketball court on the island which was owned by the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church and made sure all the participants learned what they could from the two courses we conducted,” he added.
Kivo explained that calls were made to SIBF to further assist the province in building a new basketball court as talks between leaders of the island and the province were to take place soon over the proposed site for a sports area.
He said that if all goes well over the course of the year, basketball competitions and programs can be organized more frequently and helps boost the profile and development of basketball.
Meanwhile, SIBF managed to also conduct a successful election of new office bearers to the Bellona Basketball Association (BBA).
Kivo and Fa’amoana explained that straight after their program on the last day of the trip, they elected new office bearers who will now look after the basketball affairs of the island.
This was another remarkable achievement indeed for SIBF and Renbel Province.
“We are very happy that BBA has now been formed and we will work closely with them to help develop basketball on Bellona Island” Kivo added.
SIBF donated two new basketball rings to BBA and made a financial pledge to support the work of the new association. The pledge was made by SIBF president, Mr. Pongotapu.
Renbel Province is set to host the next Solomon Games in 2016 and according to the new BBA executives the visit by SIBF was very timely.
