FORMER Jamaica Basketball Association (JABA) president Marland Nattie has high praises for current head, Ajani Williams, and his administration after the successful completion of the first National Basketball League (NBL) season under their tenure.

Nattie credited Williams for the sponsorship he generated and believes if they can maintain this type of support, the sport has a bright future under his stewardship.

According to Nattie, it is still too early for an overall assessment of the administration’s performance, but he believes they have made a huge impact so far.

“If the sponsorship continues like this, then there is no telling what will happen… because that’s what we were lacking when I was in charge,” Nattie said after his team, Majesty Gardens Legends, was defeat in Game Two of the finals last Saturday at the National Indoor Sports Centre.

He said laying the foundation was key for all this and he is pleased to see things heading in the right direction.

“We achieved numerous things during our time. We started the NBL and all the other stuff like certification of referee and coaches; schools and national programes and youths camps, but funding was lacking,” he reiterated.

“But now that they’re able to access proper funding; it’s just for them to build, correct things and improve the league,” he added.

Every new administration has its problems and Nattie cited a few mistakes, but he says they will eventually grow and know how to deal with these matters.

“There were hiccups that will have to be sorted out; however, they are new and there are going to be mistakes, but there are still past members who are on the present committee who have the experience, so they should be okay,” he said.

The former JABA boss also believes the national team stands a good chance of qualifying for the Olympic Games with this renewed support.

“We won the (CARICOM) Championship without funding…. so we’re waiting to see how much more support they will be able to get to maintain this level… and even push it to the heights that it can attain,” he stated.

Meanwhile Williams, said the feedback from sponsors, teams, players, fans and basketball enthusiasts has been tremendous and his administration wants to improve next season.

“There were many points of satisfaction as a first-year president, and although there were setbacks, all the involved parties were pleased,” he said.

One disappointment was not attaining the $16 to $17 million sponsorship targetted for the season.

“… In essence we had to carve a budget within the amount of money we raised,” he explained.

The former NBL players said although he came under pressure for delaying the start of the league, he knew he was making the right decision.

“I told the stakeholders that they would have to trust my experience as a pro… because if we waited and do it right then we they would have something special,” he said.

Williams maintained that the sustainance of the programme lies in equipping the JaBA with a fully professional staff to manage the sport on a daily basis.

“The most important thing for me is not so much the sponsorship, but the leadership… We want young people who have creative and innovative ideas from college coming into basketball,” he said.

“… JABA needs a lot of man hour from its executives on a day-to-day basis and it’s impossible for JABA to self-sustain itself with free time, so until we can figure that out, we still have a lot of ground to make up,” he said.

After a hectic year in which he had to be at the forefront, Williams says this years he intends to put people in place to take care of the various responsibilities.

“This year I acted more as CEO than as president because the league had lost it way and it needed hands-on details, but that left me with a number of resposibilities in my private capacity that I have to tend to… I will ensure that that this is maintained through a particular type of model with certain people involved,” he said.