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Inter-Restaurant Basketball League to kick off soon
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Posted on Mar 07 2006
The Inter-Restaurant Basketball League will make a return to the local sports scene after a year of absence.
This according to organizers Jake Villanueva and Jojo Molar, who indicated during an interview yesterday that the league with kick off later this month or early next month.
“We’re getting a lot of calls from people who are asking when the league is going to start,” Villanueva said. “The interest is there, we just have to let them know.”
In hopes of getting the ball rolling, the two officials are calling for an important meeting this Monday, March 13, 3pm at the Capricciosa Restaurant in Garapan.
“We’re inviting all the teams that competed in the last season and also others that are interested are welcome,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva added that all interested teams must pay an entry fee of $600, which will shoulder the cost of running the league.
Each team must sport players from within their establishment. However, teams are allowed to import only one player, who must not be a member of the CNMI National Basketball Team.
“This league is just to promote basketball, exercise, and sports competition among restaurant employees,” Villanueva said. “If we have the National team players…they’re just at another level.”
Also, Villanueva and Molar confirmed that the league has already secured a major sponsor in Triple J Five Star Wholesale.
“They’ll be helping us this year and will be providing the trophies,” he said.
Both officials said the regular season would feature a single round-robin format. Throughout regular season games, best player awards will be presented to the top performer of the winning team and three-point shootouts will be held every halftime.
Games are to be played on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights beginning at 10:30pm.
Villanueva and Molar said they’ll be getting in contact with Division of Sports and Recreation acting director Joe Lizama in hopes of securing the usage of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. However, they said some games would be played outdoors at the Garapan Basketball Court.
“Maybe for some people who like to watch, the gym is too far away, so if we will also hold some games at Garapan, they’ll be able to watch,” Villanueva said.
