Developing well-rounded players and educating them on the fundamentals of the sport will again be the primary objective of Bermuda Youth Basketball League organisers for the upcoming season.

“The expectation for the new season is to basically continue the development of our players to actually get more involved in the sport at the younger level because the ultimate goal is to keep feeding our national programme, get more players exposed and overseas to gain more experience,” league co- director Gladstone Simons told The Royal Gazette.

“Our goal every year is to focus on the eight essential basketball skills; footwork, body control, ball handling and dribbling, passing and receiving, shooting, rebounding screening as well as offensive and defensive concepts. With this well-rounded approach we ensure that young players get a solid foundation in the sport to set them up for success as they progress on their basketball journey.”

Players will again be exposed to real game situations on the court to further aid in their development both mentally and physically.

“We try to have the players apply these skills in real game situations because it helps them improve their physical abilities but also enhances their decision making, which is very critical in becoming a well rounded player,” Simons added.

“We try and emulate that situation through our league therefore we have refereed games, coaches, a shot clock; as real as we can get as that we feel will help these players in the long run.

“We are just looking to develop players and have them play in pressurised situations to try and speed up their development mentally, so that they can think the game a lot faster and therefore are able to handle themselves in pressure situations and help prepare them for their school leagues as well, so that we can raise the talent level in the school league and make it more entertaining.”

The Bermuda Youth Basketball League will again feature the Starter Division involving players ages 10 to 13 and All Star Division comprised of high school players.

“Based on how many registers we get, we fill the teams and we try to keep it eight to a team and that way every player is guaranteed playing time,” Simons said.

Back to defend their titles are All Star Division champions Cobras and Starter Division winners Huskies.

Registration is now open for the upcoming season to run from October to March, with games taking place at Mount Saint Agnes gym on Saturdays at 4pm.

For more details visit the BYB website.