Take it to the hole!

My friend Cikku had a rather strange, hippy-looking friend called Joseph.

Although Joseph was a little weird there was one constant in his life... he wore a multicoloured coat wherever he went.

I always assumed that Joseph had an air conditioning plant in his coat because wearing that kind of attire in summer can be very hot work!

Cikku's friend was a mystical kind of character who claimed to have some extra sensory powers and he was very interested in people's dreams.

Now Cikku was also interested in dreams but for a very different reason, he had had a recurring dream in which seven beads of sweat ran down his forehead as he worked on the latest jump programme guaranteeing he would perform some gravity defying dunks this season.

After some time an enormous drop of water, the size of a pumpkin, appeared from nowhere.

It hit Cikku, washing away the sweat and curiously left him unable to jump.

No matter how he tried Cikku just could not leave the floor and it was at this point in the dream that Cikku would always wake up.

He was desperate to understand what the dream meant, if it meant anything at all, and turned to Joseph for help.

Joseph listened attentively, sighed, coughed, sighed again and then pronounced that the dream meant a lot of sense. He went on to explain that the seven beads of sweat represented the seven years that Cikku had been training very hard to become the best basketball player possible.

The last drop signified a storm, which would threaten to wash away all of Cikku's hard work.

Little did Cikku know that Joseph predictions would turn out to be very true!

It rained. It rained some more. It continued to rain and then it poured!

Yes, the beginning of this week was really that bad, with Malta suffering one of the worst storms in recent history.

The water wreaked havoc, damaging cars and houses, commercial and industrial concerns and alas sport facilities as well.

The basketball pavilion at Ta' Qali was not spared with the court ending up completely submerged by the rainfall.

This happened due to the flooding of the surrounding area, which also hit the facilities of the Malta FA.

Damage assessment

Despite the hard work to rectify the situation it became apparent that the water had significantly damaged the parquet flooring with several planks beginning to buckle as they warp.

The end result is that the basketball court at Ta' Qali is no longer in a state to be played on, and all this just a few days before the first competitive matches were scheduled to be played.

Indeed the first Under 17 game was scheduled for tomorrow morning but now all games have been postponed indefinitely.

The initial assessment of the damage by the Malta Basketball Association (MBA) is of between Lm80,000 and Lm100,000 a figure that is way beyond what the Association affords.

If alternative courts can be found to host the diverse leagues of the MBA then the actual expense will rise due to the rent that will have to be paid for the use of these facilities.

Furthermore, all the clubs will have to bear the expense of a longer season, as during the delay teams will continue to train, hiking up their bill for the rental of training facilities. All in all, the situation looks very bleak unless outside help is found, and very quickly.

The MBA has long been planning a new facility adjacent to the existing basketball pavilion. Funding was being sought to help the MBA in this endeavour.

Now, it appears that what funding can be found will have to be diverted to fixing the current facility.

This may have serious long-term effects on the game. The offices of the MBA are a hive of activity as solutions to the problems are sought. Expect an update of the situation in the near future.

The President's Council of the MBA yesterday announced that, due to the flooding of the basketball pavilion and the damage caused to the wooden flooring and electrical system, basketball activities have been postponed indefinitely.

"The MBA is already working to find temporary alternative venues for competitions which were expected to start this Saturday," the statement added.