The Little Dribblers Basketball League is AK2K Network's newest sister network affiliate within the NABA program, it has been formally coordinated and efforts are underway through AK2K Network's administrative staff to have preliminary games during the NABA season.
Most of the NABA regular season games are slated to begin at a 6:30pm start time. The Rules and Regulations Committee Spokesman Thomas Mills said that each venue's hometown team, will have its Little Dribblers perform a single running-clock game with start time set to 4:00pm. "Because of how our basktball league is setup, we meticulously planned it out to where these kids can be presented the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of their family and friends, while at the same time providing another added element that reflects more than one dynamic within the game of basketball." Added Mills.
Within the NABA regular season schedule of its games, each venue, or franchise, will be holding what are called Homestand Waves- in which games are held on either a set Friday/Saturday, or a Tuesday/Wednesday on some flex schedules. The Little Dribblers games will be afforded gameplay during the Friday/Saturday sets.
The NABA Gametime Team Staff, along with its school affiliates in each of the venue locations, will be conducting the functions for a smooth operation of these games, as well as the volunteer Head Coaches of the Little Dribblers' teams. NABA Executive VP Phillip Olson said that the hope is that this transition of taking on the Little Dribblers League, is just as effective as the mission currently being undertaken by NABA, where a new system is in place for the kids, as much as the adults.
"This is something that we want to take lead in." Stated Olson. "For a long time there's been a huge interest in the Little Dribblers throughout the rural Alaskan villages who has or have inititated these awesome programs, its just that the inconsistencies unfortunately always tied in with not having major source umbrella's or organizations to operate under, and funneling it through AK2K is not only exciting for us, but is consistent with our mission to include the children within our communities, especially during the cold, dark, winter months where all of us can use a little added entertainment while keeping our kids occupied. The Little Dribblers Basketball League obviously wont be the answer, but its atleast another avenue presented within some of our incentive-based efforts to do positive things for our community."
The logistics for the number of total Little League teams is yet to be determined for some of the larger host venues, some of which already have effective running Little Dribblers organizations. At this point, what is known, is that the smaller venues will have 4 total teams to start.