SALUTING THE CHAMPIONS: 2006-2016

Part I of the article presented the Premier Division Playoff champion teams, the champs in the Regular League from that same division, and the team that had captured both categories of championships between 2006 and 2016. The article concludes below.

2nd LEVEL DIVISION NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: No one team in the 2nd LMD dominated the playoff championships during the 2006-2016 period. A total of eight or nine teams were crowned national champions in Division I, with two of those, viz. Tigers of Canefield and Raptors of Wesley, capturing the top honours twice.

Tigers stepped to the top of the awards podium in 2009 and 2012, while Raptors captured back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011.

The six other teams that were declared National Division I Playoff Champions during the period were Faith from Massacre (2006), Pistons from Pichelin (2007), Falcons from Pichelin (2013), Thundererz from Grand Bay (2015) and Police Sports Club (2016).

2nd LEVEL DIVISION REGULAR LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Information on the Regular League champions in 2nd LMD was not always available. However, for the four years for which such information was available, Juggernauts from Salisbury captured that championship in 2010; Falcons in 2013, Police & Crossover in 2014; and Police & Thundererz in 2015.

PERFORMING THE DOUBLE IN 2nd LEVEL DIVISION: From the available information, at least three teams won both Regular Season and Playoff championships in particular years during the period under review. Wearing the 'double-caps' were Falcons in 2013, Crossover in 2014 and Thundererz in 2015.

3rd LEVEL DIVISION PLAYOFF & REGULAR LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: The 3rd Level Division (Division II) was mostly absent from the DABA rosters during the period under review, and we may have seen action in that division only in 2013 when La Plaine Avengers emerged as Regular League Champions, and Police captured the Division's Playoff championship.

WOMEN CHAMPIONS: Like the 3rd Level Men's Division, the Women's Division saw limited action from 2006-2016, although that division was on the DABA roster for more seasons. In 2013, the division for ladies was re-introduced onto DABA's calendar "as a trial after a few years absence", and based upon available published information, it appears that for some years, the Women's League was never completed. The Women's League appeared on the DABA roster from 2013 through 2016.

From the available information, the Roseau-based Lady Panthers captured 'back-to-back' and Regular League championships in 2014 and 2015 and also emerged as Playoff champions in 2015. As many as five teams – from Roseau, Marigot, Grand Bay, Paix Bouche and the Portsmouth Secondary School - participated in the Women's League during the period.

REMARKS: The lack of proper record-keeping has been a malady plaguing most local sports associations for a long time, with basketball being no exception. While efforts have been made off and on to produce reports on particular basketball seasons, such efforts still need to be sustained. And, while one might turn attention to the newspapers for information, the amount of sports news items published in the print media has decreased dramatically in the last few years.

Furthermore, there have been a few years when local basketball coverage was barely minimal or absent. And so, we turn our attention to local online news sources such as Dominica News Online (DNO) and DA Sports Vault. Mickey Joseph and Gary Benjamin, then members of the Dominica Amateur Basketball Association, must be commended for supplying the online media with 'action-packed' press releases on the national league. However, in 2016 there was little information about basketball in Dominica that year.

It is hoped, therefore, that the four articles about the champion teams in Dominica's Basketball League (1966 through 2016), viz. "Champions on Podiums:1966-1978"; "Parade of Champions: 1982-1992 ",; "Meet the Champions: 1993-2004", and this current article, "Saluting the Champions: 2006-2016", will help fill the void in terms of documenting the list of the majority of champion teams that have reigned in our national league.

Information was compiled from archived newspapers and DABA Statistical Reports for 2013, 2014 and 2015.

CONDOLENCES

Jump Ball extends sincere condolences to Mickey Joseph, former national player, former team coach and national coach, and former DABA President for multiple stints, on the passing of his mother-in-law, Mrs Eudora Shaw, quickly followed by the death of his dear Mom, Mrs Flossie Joseph; those ladies passed away in February and March 2023 respectively. May they rest in eternal peace.