BELIZE CITY, Wed. Feb. 2, 2022– The longing to play competitive sports in the country has now ended, for Belizean basketball fanatics at least, as the Ahmadiyya Basketball League is set to return for its 7th season on Sunday, February 6. Back in 2020, the last time the season was operational, games were abruptly put on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the season was never completed.
The Ahmadiyya Basket League is a tournament conducted annually under the umbrella of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Belize, an organization that spreads humanitarian services throughout the community.
For the inaugural season, in 2014, the league started with eight teams, and now, eight years later, the league is seeing its highest registration to date, with forty-seven teams. “We were struggling with eight teams, and then it got a little bit better in the third year when we moved to a new venue, and in the fourth year we moved to SJC which accommodates three different games simultaneously. This is the first time we will be having all of our games at the new facility at Mexico Center, and with the grace of God, we have forty-seven teams registered, the biggest we’ve ever had…this is something huge,” Naveed Mangla, National President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Belize shared in an exclusive interview with Amandala.
Two years since the cancelation of the 2020 season, we’re still in the midst of the pandemic, however, the organization has adjusted to the new norm, and now they are opening areas previously closed due to the pandemic. For the upcoming season, mandatory precautions have been put in place to prevent the spread of the virus during the tournament.
“We will be extra careful; the last thing you want is a clutter here at our league and this becomes a spot where everybody catches it from. Keeping that in consideration, we’re just allowing the teams alone, 12 members, and they’re allowed to bring 8 extra people in the gym. There’ll be two teams playing and two waiting, so only four teams in the gym. The capacity the government allows is much more but we are doing it this way so everybody is safe, to safeguard the youth from this COVID. As soon as two teams are done playing they exit, and we allow two more to come in the gym…so that kids are not gathering there. We’re also trying to get a live stream going this year so that youth that are interested in watching don’t have to be in the gym to watch; they can do so at home, access it on Facebook,” Mangla explained.
Mangla said the rule is that all the teams, everybody playing has to be fully vaccinated. “One exception that was given to us by the Ministry of Sports is that a person who recently had COVID, they’re allowed to play, but they have to show a letter from the government when they had the COVID the last time. And also, they have to at least have had one vaccination; people with zero vaccinations are not allowed and the same rule applies for the extra people that they’re bringing. We will have people that will be checking their vaccination card, and we’ll also have the temperature guns to check for people who might have a fever. We will not jeopardize their health…or the health of the other people that are in the gym by allowing them [people who might be sick] in,” Mangla explained.
Earlier this year, 15-year-old Joshua Flores, a student of Dangriga Town who was an avid basketball player, was gunned down while walking on Isla Road in the Sabal Community of Dangriga Town by someone who is believed to have been a friend of his. According to Naveed, this would have been his first time participating in the season. “It was the U15 that this individual would be playing in. He has never played for us before; he was just preparing to come this year. I never met him, he has never played. We haven’t thought about doing any remembrance for him but if the team feels that something needs to be done, we’re all for it and definitely, we will do something about it.”
At the end of the season, awards such as Most Valuable Player (MVP) and the Sportsmanship Award will be given out to individuals with the most outstanding performance for the season. Also, the winner for each division will get a trophy.
The first games start at 9 a.m., with Falcons vs Young Ballers and Conquerors vs Los Lagos Defenders in the U15 division.