The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@trivbunemedia.net

The New Providence Basketball Association, one of the most flourishing sporting organisations in the country, will be making a valuable contribution to its players amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Thursday between the hours of 1-6pm at Pastor Arthur Duncombe's City of Praise Church on Cowpen Road, opposite Island Luck, the NPBA will be distributing care packages to its players, coaches, managers, referees and table officials. The NPBA must be commended as it's the first sporting body to host such an initiative in which they can give back to their membership at large.

NPBA secretary Rochelle Kemp, in a press release yesterday, said they realise that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many persons are hurting because of the loss of their jobs.

NPBA president James Price said in economic times such as this, every little is a help and that is why they are supporting their membership in this manner.

"We know that we had some people who went through some hard times when we didn't have this economic hard time," he said.

"This time, we have players, coaches and officials who are in need. We know that everybody doesn't have money, so we decided to give back. This is one of the ideas that we decided to give back to our players, coaches and officials."

It is estimated that during the course of the day, the NPBA will distribute more than 300 care packages, an initiative that is being done solely by the NPBA.

"I was watching the news in the United States and I saw how the people responded," Price said. "I passed the idea on to some of our executives and they felt it was a good idea."

With all of the parks and the gymnasiums closed to the public by the Bahamas government to avoid large gatherings as we practice social distancing to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, Price said they decided to use the City of Praise parking lot because it could be easily accessed as a drive-through to distribute the care packages. "Our executive team will be there to assist our players, coaches and officials," Price said. "We have gotten the approval from the coaches from their chat group. So we are looking forward to making this contribution to them."

Kemp, who also serves as a table official, revealed that they will be serving teams every hour on the hour, while the referees and officials can stop in at any time of the day. The projected schedule for the give-aways:

1-2pm - Abaco Strong, Asphalt Maintenance Pirates, BIBT Great Whites and Breezes High Flyers.

2-3pm - CB Giants, Discount Rockets, Fort Charlotte Defenders and Island Dimension Wolverines.

3-4pm - JD's Seafood Shockers, Leno Regulators 1 and II and the Patmor Rebels.

4-5pm - Sports Center Elites, Sun Oil Rockets, TMT Giants and the Triple K Stampers.

5-6pm - University of the Bahamas Mingoes, Uptown Cuts Specialists and Your Essential Stores (YES) Giants.

Price said while the executive board is fully aware of all of its players, coaches, managers and officials, they are kindly asking that they bring along their league identifications to help speed up the process.

The NPBA had to halt their postseason in March like all of the other sporting bodies after the Bahamas government decided to ban all sporting activities with large gatherings just as the coronavirus pandemic arrived in the Bahamas.