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Review: Singh has proven will to prevail

Apr 30, 2013 Sports

 

 

Notwithstanding the challenges basketball and its administration in Georgetown faced over what can be called a tumultuous last three years, the new Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) President, Michael Singh, has proven the will to prevail.
Against immeasurable odds that included insufficient sponsorship and funding; mobilising clubs; shortage of referees and public apathy, owed to the game’s slow resurgence, Singh completed the first quality Division I League in Georgetown in recent times.
The budding Sport Administrator, who is also the Colts Basketball Club President, has shown the type of resolve the sport needed in the Capital City to lift it out of oblivion. His offensive-minded approach has ensured winning points for Georgetown holistically.
In the face of challenges, Singh’s predecessor, Banks DIH Executive, David Carto, had chosen to give up the post via resignation, even though it was popular perception that he would have gotten so much done with the backing of the local beverage company.
However, that was not to be; Carto tried some things to his credit, including a League, which was incomplete. When faced with the omnipresent problems of sports, in this instance, basketball and its administration in Guyana, Carto passed the ball in crunch-time.
Founder of Knights Basketball Club, former junior national Guard and former Vice-President of the GABA, Kester Gomes, received the pass and single-handedly tried to finish the play, but that again fell through after other officials resigned, leaving Gomes alone in the game with no option but to rally the association through regulation time.
It is against such background that Singh came to office this year with a fragmented association to augment; little basketball activity in Georgetown; no corporate interest in the game, and a host of other administrative and structural issues to address.
In short, the game in Georgetown needed a leader to move it forward in ways that would have an inspirational impact on its base, invoking widespread momentum. The stakeholders namely clubs believed that Singh was the man for the job and unanimously sent him into the game.
Singh immediately went on the offensive. He scored his first points when he invited the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) for an exchange game against Georgetown at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, which was well-received in the basketball community.
The forum was organised to announce the reinvigoration of basketball in the City in the form of 36 Division I, and 55 Division III games in two extensive Leagues, which spanned three months. After much trial, the rest is now history. The Division I League is completed and the Division III League is 15 games away from completion.
Singh battled pass the above mentioned (second paragraph) issues, and forever changed the game in Georgetown; GABA-affiliated Division I clubs exactly know how they are placed; who are the better teams and how competitive, comparatively, they are in the division.
Coaches and clubs are in a position now to address what they would have observed as weaknesses. The spin-off of such an extensive playing programme should produce development.
Robert ‘Bobby’ Cadogan and his Trinity Grid Holdings Pacesetters went 7-1 to top the Division I League, claiming the enviable place as Georgetown’s number one team for the 2013 Season. It was a changing of the old guard when Colts, Pepsi Sonics, and Ravens finished with 6-2 records that were separated with a tiebreak based on the result of the game when those teams played each other.
Colts secured the second place as Sonics and Ravens followed to determine the top four teams in Georgetown; Leagues grew competitively as they shook off the rusts from inactivity and became well-oiled machines, giving life to a sport on the precipice of death.
Singh added a number of entertainment components to the Leagues at several intervals whenever funds arose and transformed Burnham Basketball Court into a haven for enthusiasts.
His resolute attitude and will to prevail has ultimately rebranded basketball with vibrancy. The future will tell if that is a feature embedded in the character of his leadership.

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