By Andrew Coakley

FN Sports Editor

The YMCA Commercial League is back and is expected to be bigger and better.

The League has gone beyond just having teams that represent companies competing on the basketball court.

Now, the League has incorporated two new divisions - a church league and an open league.

"My intention and my goal is to expand the programme to bring in even more teams into the League," said Terry Wildgoose, Activities Director at the YMCA.

"I'm taking it to where it ought to be."

The League begins on June 27 and will run until the ending part of August. All games will be played at the Jack Hayward gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

The Open Division will allow all of the top players on the island to compete against each other without the stipulation of having to be a part of a company or even having to be a member of a church.

"This will allow players in high school, in college, or out of college to play in an Open format," explained Wildgoose.

"This will give those players who would normally play in a night league, who may not be a part of a company, to play basketball. This should take the place of a night league."

On the other hand, the Commercial League, which is the league for local companies, has a stipulation for all players, and that stipulation suggests that each player on any particular company team, must be a part of that company.

"We will even accept sub-contractors for companies, but each player must be employed by that company in some form.

"But we want to bring back the Commercial league to what it should be and that's basketball teams from local companies throughout Grand Bahama."

Wildgoose said that they have gone a step further and have put in place a Church Division of the League.

He noted that there are a lot of churches that have basketball teams, but they have no place to play.

This division of the "Y" League will give all church basketball teams a chance to play on a regular basis.

Like the Commercial League, the Church League also has a stipulation - all players on each team must be a member of the church they represent.

"There will be no place for players who may be good to go to any church team and play for them if that player does not attend that church," said Wildgoose.

"This is the church we're dealing with, so we expect honesty to come from the pastor, so what we will do is allow the Pastor to sign the team roster, and that will signify that all of the players on that list are members of his/her church.

"We're gonna leave that in the pastor's hand."

The scope of the YMCA Commercial League gives everyone (With the exception of girls) an opportunity to play in the League. Wildgoose said that plans are under way to incorporate girls and ladies into the League as soon as possible.

"Our objective at the YMCA is to have everyone involved," said Wildgoose. "So, we want to make provision for female teams. We want everyone to be involved.

"So far, we've had great response to this new aspect of the League and we are looking to have a number of teams in each division sign up and compete."

Wildgoose said that once they have a determination of how many teams will be playing in each division, the official schedule will be made up.

However, he pointed out that the schedule will be flexible to the point where it can be changed in the middle of the season, to accommodate teams.

"For instance, we're leaning towards having the church league play on Fridays, but that's not certain yet, because they may have play on a Monday night," explained Wildgoose.

"So, the schedule has to be set up in a way where it can be adjusted. For instance, if you see teams are losing constantly because of default, we can't just sit back and accept that. We have to find out why it's happening and see if there's a way we could prevent it.

"It would be unfair for the fans to go to the gym thinking that they will see three games and only one is played because the other two are defaults. I feel that a schedule is one that should be able to be adjusted."

Wildgoose is also stern when it comes to having proper officiating at games.

"I will go on record and say that we have some poor officiating in Grand Bahama," said Wildgoose. "And for too long we go along with bad officiating and it's bad for the game. It drags the league down, and so we want only the best officials to call these games.

"Officiating is a hard job, but if you know the rules, it will make it a lot easier. Even the fans don't enjoy games when there is bad officiating. So, that's something we want to change in this YMCA League.

"I'm not saying that referees won't make mistakes, but I really believe that referees should be fair and impartial."

Wildgoose is adamant that once the league begins every team that steps onto the court should be in proper uniform. It's another of his pet peeves which he wants to see strongly enforced in the YMCA Basketball League.

He's convinced that teams in uniform enhance the League and makes the fans feel comfortable.

"No team will be allowed to walk on that court without being in proper uniform," said Wildgoose.

"In this League FIBA rules will be applied and anyone who knows FIBA rules, know that being in proper uniform is a part of the rules. So there will not be any exceptions."

Wildgoose is convinced that basketball in Grand Bahama has slipped badly, because of a lack of commitment to the sport.

He pointed out the fact that Grand Bahama has not won a Hugh Campbell Basketball Tournament in years; there is no night league and Grand Bahama is not represented in national tournaments.

"We have to bring basketball back to where it used to be in Grand Bahama."