It’s due to a ruling sent by FIBA to all national sports association around the world, explained Mr Wong Liang Han, the CCAB advisor for basketball.
Although the technical details have yet to be confirmed by the Basketball Association of Singapore, most agreed that it was a step in the right direction. However, the primary concern of the almost 100 teachers and coaches present centred around the finer points.
“It’s essentially a matter of implementation,” said one of the participants later. ” All the schools and coaches need to be aware of the rules so that we can teach our students while the referees need to consistent in their interpretation of the rule as well.”
One clear example brought up at the meeting, which actually occured at a BAS U14 competition organised in 2006, involved a team using their best player to attack the basket throughout the game, while his teammates stood at a far end of the court. Due to the rules, the other members of the defending team could only watch on helplessly as the game degenerated into a one-on-one basketball game.
Such valuable feedback will be taken into serious consideration before any implementation of the new rules, said Mr Ma, the referee chief also present at the meeting.
Mr Wong emphasised that the matter is still at a discussion stage though.
“I am glad that such examples are highlighted. We are still gathering feedback at this stage and looking into the possible loopholes to help us make a better decision,” he said, adding that he hoped to come to a decision by end of next week so that schools can prepare adequately for the upcoming season.
What has been confirmed though, is the change in school’s basketball calendar due to the upcoming major international events held next year.
“We will still maintain the same format for all divisions for basketball preliminary and national competitions, but the C division zonal matches will have to be brought forward due to next year’s Asian Youth Games to be held in July.”
Tentative Schedule of Next Season’s Competition Calendar
B Zonals: Term 1
B Nationals: Term 1 and 2 (Mar – Apr)
A Nationals: Term 1 and 2 (Mar and May)
C Zonals: Term 2
C Nationals: Term 3
What was most crucial though, and also the focal point of the meeting was that sports in schools was all about character education and values.
“We must remember that as educators, we should use inter-school games to instil the high values of sportmanship and good character traits like respect and perseverance. These competitions also serve as the ideal channel for our students to develop essential lifeskills like teamwork. That is what our organization stands for,” highlighted Mr Wong at the start of the meeting.
View a highlight photo montage of the year in basketball also screened at the meeting:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43sanANyXnw
“With regard to the Man-on-Man Defence Rule, the Singapore Schools Sports Council (SSSC) will not adopt the rule for the National Schools Basketball Championships in 2009. SSSC will continue to work with the Basketball Association of Singapore (BAS) to review the feasibility of its implementation in subsequent years.
In the meantime, BAS will continue to spearhead this initiative and implement the rule in its age-group tournaments in 2009. Hence, we encourage schools to continue to emphasize man-on-man defence as part of the basketball training programme.”
LOL! i agree to passer-by! In certain situations like when a player is on a fastbreak while his teammates jus stood far and see, i tink it is unfair and i tink such acts shld be eliminated. However, man-on-man defense to me i tink shld nt be implemented nxt yr and after all it is a defensive strategy, and i tink derh organisation shlden prohibit or ban a team from playing a certain defending strategy.
Er…why don’t you use punctuation? It will be easier to read what you are saying.
if we were to play in man-to-man then we will not be able to train our team-spirit we play basketball in the manner where by we build up team spirit well enough and to play a good defensive game we need good teamwork like double team, traps and so on with man to man is juz like 1vs1 then when i suddenly do a spin with a few defender infront of me is just like going for a open lay-up but without man to man we can play well enough juz like the above report has said during the isibl match 1 guy going on a fast break the teammate can only stood far away if tats this case alot of the basketballer will juz slack on training since not alot of running needed like wadd my coach has said before this during adrill where by we play 2on2 my capain went pass my teamate cuz of me playing man-to man i cannot get close to him but i ended up being scolded but i thinking the scoldin is worth cuz if without the man to man rules i think mostly i will be getting it but man to man defense has bought the basketball spirit to a lower value
No doubt in school for any game we would impart the values and character building during our coaching: follow games rules, repect officials,opponents……..
But it is not only the coach effort can achieve these goal.
The convenor, advisor and referees would have their part to play.
The convenor should be able to supervise what happened in the court and justify the payment to official whether their services satisfactory performed.
The advisor should have the gut to advise and not just to be a kind man at the expense of the fairness of the games which played by huge number of young school teen.
The referees should have the intergrity to follow the rules strickly,and should not find the excuses after making the mistakes.
eg. Using own count down system by blameing the game clock not in order. (After checking from BAS, it was not true, they have maintain att the equipment in good condition for games)
If all play their part then we can achieve the goal we set, and bring our teen growing up in healthy sports cultural and building up sound character.