Take It To The Hole!

My friend Cikku took a shortbread biscuit and manoeuvred it through the air, making it loop the loop, pirouette and eventually dive deep into his cup of tea.

After demolishing the biscuit, he took another and forced it through similar undulating pathways. This continued until Cikku had devoured the whole pack.

I looked at Cikku with consternation for two reasons... the first was that I couldn't understand what he was doing and the second because the boy didn't even offer me one biscuit... oh, the youth of today!

Cikku saw that I was befuddled and volunteered some information that put things in perspective... he was training for the Slam Dunk competition to be held on Sunday, December 29, and decided he would start by dunking his biscuit in tea!

Talk, talk, talk, action!

For those of you out there who are reading this column for the first time, (admit it you wait with baited breath for my little bit of Friday wisdom!) I would like to introduce you to Maltahoops.

This is a forum where people who love the game of basketball discuss what is happening in the local game.

Now, maybe not every contribution is grammatically correct, and some might tend to be emotional from time to time, but we all feel that it is nice to express our opinions and air our views.

There have been a couple of very good ideas that have cropped up in between the griping that one would expect from such a forum.

One of these was the fact that there is the need to revive the All-Star Game which used to attract substantial crowds to Ta' Qali.

This topic has cropped up several times in the past three months but as usual it was talk, talk, talk and no action, that is up to now.

A committee of three was formed (consisting of Adrian Mifsud, Charles Bonnici and myself) and a date fixed for the great event (with the help of the MBA who are kindly lending us the pavilion at Ta' Qali).

Here are all the details of the first Maltahoops All-Star Afternoon.

On Fire?

The event will begin at 2.30 p.m. when the hot shots from around the island will compete in the Three-Point Shooting Competition.

Each player will have one minute in which to attempt 25 shots from behind the three-point arc.

After the preliminaries, the highest scoring players will advance to the semi-final and eventually the final stage.

Players are still enrolling for the competition but the line-up looks pretty impressive. The full list will be published next week.

Who has the hops?

The levitators will follow the sharp shooters, as the afternoon will continue with the Slam Dunk Competition. Each player will be given three attempts at wowing the judges.

Eight judges, four veterans of the game and four kids to be selected randomly from the crowd present will award points for the players' gravity-defying stunts.

The kids who are lucky to be drawn to act as courtside judges will obviously be given some goodies for there efforts so bring your children to Ta' Qali for if they are among the lucky ones it will be a great follow-up present to Christmas!

Roll up all-stars...

The final event of the afternoon will be the All-Star Game where the best talent on the island will be giving a demonstration of their skills in an NBA style game.

The game will be played in four quarters of twelve minutes with three referees officiating the game simultaneously. This is a first for Malta.

The final rosters for the game will be published next week, but names like Silvio Cassar, Ivan Attard, Michael Naudi, Omar Said, Nathan Farrugia, Adrian 'Rocket' Micallef, Ivan Riolo, Jyde Jetson and Steve Schembri should start your mouths salivating.

A good number of up-and-coming players will also be part of the action amongst them Steve Pace (just voted player of the month), Dustin Falzon, Addison Bonnici, Chris Sammut, Louis Camilleri and Dirk Schembri.

John Tabone and Joe Galea who are the coaches of the teams currently placed first and second in the Kinnie National League will be in charge of the two teams.

Time for giving

If you are reading Take it to the Hole! at home, perhaps with a coffee steaming comfortingly beside you, remember that there are those amongst us who are not lucky enough to have a permanent roof on their heads.

The proceeds of the game will go towards the YMCA's Homeless Shelter so just by popping up to Ta' Qali you will be helping out those in need.

Add to the fact that the afternoon is going to be packed with entertainment, that the Kinnie Kool Cat will be delighting the youngest fans with his antics and that some cool spot prizes are waiting to be won and you are guaranteed an afternoon of fun for all the family.

The price is reasonable too: Lm1.50 for adults and 75c for children under the age of twelve. Where else can you get so much for so little?

Keep the 29th free and look to this column for more details next week. If you cannot wait till next week then contact me on the email address below for more details about the first Maltahoops All-Star Afternoon or indeed about the Maltahoops forum itself.