Take it to the hole!

My friend Cikku walked into the room with head hanging and face very flushed. He flopped into the sofa, took a sip of water from the bottle he had in his hand and looked at nothing in particular. He looked liked he had just been through a very, very bad experience.

After a few minutes of silence, I asked Cikku whether the sky had caved in, or perhaps some other tragedy had befallen him. Since the auditions for the Sharon Stone film are on Saturday I knew he hadn't blown that, so I couldn't imagine what had happened.

Then Cikku murmured something about being beaten by a bunch of old men, something about playing a team with white hair as part of the uniform (or indeed no hair at all!), something about him expecting them to call him son at any moment.

And then it came back to me, Cikku and his friends had to play a friendly against the first division champions... St George's!

He (they) can shoot it!

Some time back, I was talking with one of the Americans who had played in the National League, Al Hudson, whose father had also been a professional basketball player.

I remember him saying that despite having turned 60, his father could still shoot a ball: Once a shooter, always a shooter!

This old adage has been proved correct week in, week out (and perhaps year in, year out) in the local first division where once again, St George's triumphed in the play-offs.

Some of the younger basketball enthusiasts may not remember Paul Sultana, Ray Muscat and Ivan Grech in their prime, but without a doubt, had they played together then they would have been the most remarkable backcourt in the history of the local game.

Small, tenacious and fast, capable of shooting the ball from medium and long-range, yet able to take the ball all the way to the hole, they would have been a joy to watch.

Now that their careers are at an end, they have joined forces to ply their trade in the less demanding first division. Muscat, in particular, had a brilliant season where he gave many of the younger players in the league a lesson in what surgical offence is all about.

When the going gets tough...

It was not an easy season for St George's. Indeed the battle in the play-off finals against Floriana was at least as good as that of the Kinnie National League between Luxol and Pembroke.

Floriana have a few experienced players of their own with Mark Sultana proving to be the hard-working player every coach wants in his team.

When he wasn't scoring, he was pulling down a rebound, forcing a turnover or setting up a team-mate, making those around him step up their game.

Without a doubt Floriana's determination forced St George's to dig deep in their reserves of experience to pull this one off and make it a memorable series.

Scrap... or valuable antiques?

Every year at the end of the season, people tend to bring up the discussion of whether St George's, which is almost an exclusive over-forties club, bring anything to the local game.

Some people compare the team with the scrap heap of the National League where players with bones too rickety to take the physical strain of the top league go rust away.

However, if one looks through the mist of white hair, one can see that they still play a valid game of basketball.

Indeed, teams like Qormi, Mellieha and Depiro who field several young players, have grown through their battles against St George's and this has in turn been reflected in the improvement made by their under-20 teams.

So without a doubt, St George's still have a valid contribution to give to the game. Perhaps, we'll get them valued next time the Antiques Roadshow comes to Malta!

Not too late to vote!

The Maltahoops Player of the Year Polls have been open for a week now and Robert Azzopardi, Roderick Vella and Dorianne Galea lead the voting in their respective categories.

Voting will continue for another week, so get online and voice your opinion. Maltahoops can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/maltahoops/ and becoming a member is easy.

However, if you have any difficulty, an e-mail to the address below should help solve your problems. This week, the group celebrated its 100th member and the ongoing discussions are about the Player of the Year Poll and the Mini-Basketball category. Why not share your wisdom and contribute to the forum?