The first of two clinics will be in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from November 8-10 and the other in Nassau, Bahamas, from November 14-16.

According to a source, the CBC vice-president Technical Operations, Barbadian Glyne Clarke, has issued information that at the clinic in San Juan, Puerto Rico, there will be simultaneous translation for the English-speaking countries and it may be cheaper for countries like Guyana to travel there. This clinic will be conducted by Alberto Garcia and Fred Hogan.

The other in Nassau, Bahamas, will be conducted by Hogan and Clarke and it will be targeting countries like the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Aruba and those countries in the north Caribbean area.

The participants will be required to do a physical test and shuttle run and the written theory test on the rules of basketball.

Peters, who qualified as a FIBA referee in 1997, was re-certified in 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago at a similar clinic. In 2002, while attending the Barbados-held CARICOM basketball championships, Peters did the test while not being obligated to doing it, since the status last for two years. But since then the expiry date has gone and he needs to be re-certified at this year's certification clinic in either Puerto Rico or the Bahamas.

In July this year Peters carried the whistle in the final of the Leeward Islands Basketball (LIBA) championships that was held in Antigua.

At the same time, the GABF should be seeking to have more qualified referees from these shores as only such referees are being allowed to officiate at international tournaments. In fact the rule is each national team should be accompanied by a FIBA referee to any championships run by the regional body.

Only John Yates and Cecil Chin along with Peters are Guyanese who have been accorded recognition by the world governing body for basketball.

The apparent inactiveness of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF), headed by Colonel Godwin McPherson can have telling effects on the game and its players if it continues in this vein.

It is through the GABF that such information is normally channelled but since the seeming fallout within the federation members no meeting has been held to update members on the latest in basketball locally or in the region.

This follows after the once sleeping Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) finally got its act together and held elections recently when a fresh body took office.

Led by new president Christopher Douglas, it immediately made its presence felt by getting the clubs affiliated and planning tournaments for the Georgetown teams along with a national secondary schools competition.

Georgetown is arguably the most powerful body, rivalled only by Linden, among the three associations recognised by the GABF, with the Berbice. Amateur Basketball Association (BABA) being somewhat inactive.

Areas such as East Bank and East Coast Demerara have become involved in the game and are considered associate members. One would hope that the GABF ceases to be dormant and regroup for the betterment of the sport quickly.

This is in light of the recent non-participation by Guyana at the last Caribbean Basketball Confederation championships in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It happened at the last moment since Guyana's teams were prepared to travel until they ran into several problems, which prevented the male and female teams from reaching the U.S. Virgin Islands. Up to this time the real reasons are unclear.

Guyana also missed out on two important meetings - the regular meeting of the CARICOM Basketball Confederation, formerly the CARICOM Basketball Confederation (CBC), which is headed by Barbadian Gay Griffith and the CBC meeting in Puerto Rico, to discuss the constitution of the body.