The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

From running the floor as one of the top point guards from high school to college to serving as a junior national team coach, Grand Bahamian Quentin ‘Three Ounce’ Hall is hoping that his intensive background will enable him to move up as the new president of the Bahamas Basketball Federation.

Hall and his slate of officers will be running against incumbent Eugene Horton and his slate as they contest the federation’s election of officers on Saturday in the Ministry of Education’s Conference Room.

The elections will be held during the annual general meeting that starts at 10am.

“I’ve been around the Bahamas Basketball Federation since 1995,” Hall said. “Not only have I been there as a player, but I represented the Bahamas on the national team as a player for at least 16-17 years.

“Just recently, I was invited to serve as a coach on the junior national team. I think I have been so involved that I understand the logistics and I understand the grinding that it takes to make progress.

“So for me, I’ve seen where the kids are just going out there and playing, but there’s not a whole lot of coaching going on.”

As he ventures into the front office, Hall said he would like to implement programmes that will enable coaches to do a lot more coaching to better prepare the players for international competition, not just in New Providence and Grand Bahama, but throughout the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

“That’s one of the key elements that need to be addressed,” he said.

“I feel like I’m more of a worker, who can get out there and be more involved in getting this done and not just sitting on the sidelines watching.

“I’ve been in the grind and so I feel that’s an asset to our country. I’m one to get involved and be prepared to push these programmes forward with

tournaments for juniors and getting the boys and girls to play a lot more and develop their skills in the process.”

Hall will be running with a slate of officers that includes Jimmy Mackey as first vice president, Francis Delva as second vice president, newly elected New Providence Basketball Association president Ricardo Smith as third vice president, Ashley Bethel as secretary general with Shantell Penn as her assistant and Latoya Thompson-Brown as treasurer. Hall noted that he has developed a personal relationship with all of the candidates running on his slate and with the knowledge that they all bring to the table, he feels will make the difference to help further develop basketball in the country. “I know the people that I have assembled. I have great trust in them and they believe in the vision that we are putting forward for basketball,” Hall said. “It’s a chemistry within each of us. We are going to be sacrificing a whole lot to make basketball bigger and better in this country.

“So I’m looking forward to working with this group of individuals once we are elected on Saturday. I think I have a really good team. I am so confident in all of them and I hope we can get the opportunity to build something special together.”

Hall, the founder of 3Oz Athletics in Grand Bahama, was a former player who starred in Grand Bahama and the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic up to 1995 before he went on to play for Gonzaga University, leading them to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Basketball Championships in his senior year in 1999.

Following college, Hall attempted to make it in the NBA, but that didn’t work out. He returned home and while playing for the senior men’s national basketball team, he also moved into coaching at the high school and the junior national team programme in 2007.

Hall and his wife Vanessa have three sons, all of whom Quentin hopes one day will be able to follow in his footsteps as basketball players. For now, Hall just wants to continue to make his contribution to the development of the sport as the new president of the federation, the governing body in the country.

If elected, Hall and his officers intend to implement the following seven-point plan of action:

1 We will seek to raise funds for youth programmes (i.e., boys & girls) to ensure programmes are built on outer islands. a. Create local sports clubs with leagues for play. (This would enable persons outside of school systems with set of skills to be able to give back.) b. Have national round robin youth tournaments.

2 To reaffirm the national junior programme to compete on an international level.

3 Create a sustainable elite basketball programme in which athletes who are interested in national team may participate. a. Allow for stipends to cover time of training for Senior Men’s and Women’s National Teams etc.

4 Leadership will seek to implement a proper budget for the annual cost of operations and raise the necessary funds to ensure agenda can be established. a.

Establish a relationship with corporate Bahamas to raise funds.

5 Re-establish women’s national programme to become a regional powerhouse.

6 Develop coaches who are involved with youth with necessary skills to be certified coaches by FIBA (i.e., level 1 or 2 certification etc.). a. This will eventually allow Bahamians to be head coaches for our national teams.

7 Increase marketing (social media ads etc.) to the public for events hosted by the BBF.