FIBA preps up CNMI for Oceania tourney

FIBA Oceania officials conducted a workshop aimed to prepare the CNMI for hosting the 2009 Oceania Tournament.

FIBA Oceania Secretary General Steve Smith and Judy Smith, the zone’s administration manager, met with several volunteers Tuesday night at the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium and demonstrated how to use the FIBA Organizer, FIBA Live Stats, and FIBA Website.

The two software systems will be used in the 2009 Oceania Tournament, which Saipan will be hosting in June, and any information regarding the tournament will be posted in the FIBA Oceania website and the CNMI basketball’s own website.

FIBA Organizer is a new generation in sports administration software. It is designed as an administration and competition management package for sporting organizations. FIBA Organizer aims to fully computerize all facets of sport administration and to give sport administrators more time to perform other sport administration roles.

Its main features include easy to read schedules and standings, quick entry for results, membership management, transfer administration, tribunal administration, simple schedule generation, and detailed and customized reports.

In the workshop, Judy taught participants the three basic features that will be needed in next year’s tournament, namely the scoresheet, schedule of games, and results.

The second part of the workshop focused on the FIBA Live Statistics.

This program facilitates the capture of game statistics as they happen, and also webcasts this information live on the Internet. Data gathered is fully integrated with FIBA Organizer so competition and historical statistics can be updated after the game.

To access updates about the tournament, viewers just need to log to FIBA Oceania website, look for the tournament name and click LIVE.

But Steve Smith said that although the two softwares are valuable for records purposes, these could not change the outcome of the game.

He said errors can be made when making inputs on the computer, thus what actually happened in the game has more weight than what were recorded.

“Information gained through FIBA Organizer and the FIBA Live Stats are for backup purposes,” Judy added.

Judy said FIBA Live Stats replaced Cybersports, which was previously used in the Micronesian Games.

Judy said Cybersports is quite expensive with one download package costing about $600.

“So now, if we have four people here doing the Cybersports, it will cost us $2,400. But with FIBA Organizer, anyone who wants to have an organized league can just download it from our website for free,” Judy said.

For next year’s Oceania caging, Judy said CNMI will be needing at least 12 statisticians.

The two FIBA officials encouraged those who attended the workshop to talk to their friends and teach them how to use the software.

“When we get back here sometime in April, we hope more volunteers are already familiar with the software so they can help the CNMI run the tournament,” Steve said.

The CNMI being the host island is already assured of a slot to the Oceania tournament. Nine other islands/nations will be competing for the remaining nine berths. The list includes Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Guam, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and American Samoa.