Stakeholders appeal for help: Remove this basketball federation

A GROUP of National Basketball Federation of TT (NBFTT) stakeholders have written a letter to the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) calling for a removal of the current executive, whom they claim are taking the sport in a downward spiral.

The letter, dated May 25 to CBC president Leslie Collymore, was signed by several people including president of the TT Secondary Schools Allison Bastien, North East Zone chairman Dayne Francois, president of the Deaf Sport of TT (DSTT) Valdano Tobias, secretary of the East Zone Chevon LeGendre and men’s 3x3 national player Moriba DeFreitas. Over 30 names of national players, parents and coaches also appear in the letter supporting the stakeholders.

“This group would like the leadership in place to be exchanged for transparent...volunteers who (have) the time, capacity...and the will to help the sport to progress,” the letter said.

The letter was copied to president of NBFTT Jason Hills, who was elected less on January 13, 2023 but whose administration has been mired in controversy.

Contacted by Newsday via WhatsApp on Friday, Hills asked Newsday to e-mail questions to him. However, by 8.30pm on Friday, Hills did not respond to Newsday's e-mail.

The letter asked the CBC to aid “the downward spiralling basketball affairs of TT.”

It continued, “Our group is making an urgent appeal to CBC as NBFTT’s immediate up line in the FIBA family for assistance to closely examine and assist with regularizing the activities of the present administration of the NBFTT. The group would like to officially put on record that it has lost confidence in the president and the current executive and board.”

The letter raised areas of financial issues which have affected local basketball, including the NBFTT's lack of access to its bank account, more than three months into its administration.

This negatively affected the operations of local basketball and the aspirations of players, The TT 3x3 men’s and women’s teams were not registered for the AmeriCup 2023, in December in Puerto Rico. The men’s 3x3 team was also not allowed to participate at the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers on May 6 and 7 in Israel. Quoting article 45 of FIBA internal regulations, stakeholders noted that "teams who have sent their registration, cancel their participation, or fail to participate may be sanctioned."

The letter added there has been “no transparency or accountability to the board or the players on what transpired between FIBA and NBFTT where the president has expressed via the media that the team was replaced by FIBA. The Minister of Sport and Community Development also said in a media release that she was prepared to fund the participation, but that the NBFTT said that FIBA replaced the team.”

The letter also expressed grave concern over the NBFTT's alleged non-participation at the FIBA Americas Elective Assembly earlier this month, claiming that the assembly was in progress while a local board meeting was being held online.

The stakeholders questioned Hills’s commitment to the job and claimed that his communication to stakeholders was lacking.

“Very limited access to the president and unnecessarily long lag times for feedback from him on critical issues such as 3x3…strategic plan updates, board composition regarding the status of the DSTT and East Zone.”

In the letter, stakeholders alleged: “The East Zone has been barred from attending board meetings pending some type of unconstitutional task force intervention. This proposed task force intervention is not part of the NBFTT constitution or the zonal regulations.”

It was also claimed that East Zone teams have no access to updates from the NBFTT as the board does not share the meeting minutes with the zone chairman or the clubs.

The stakeholders said the NBFTT was the only CBC member with a differently-abled team, but the DSTT was not being treated fairly. The letter alleged that the DSTT has been excluded from board meetings.

The stakeholders also argued that the NBFTT was failing to fulfil the mandate by FIBA to encourage more women to participate in sport.

“The constitution needs reform to include the voice of the clubs and players and all reasonable opinions so that basketball will be led by the interest of the sport internationally and not by personal local agendas,” the stakeholders said.