Summer league very sucessful for the ABA

August 31, 2005 - American Basketball Association (ABA) News Release


Rochester, NY. The ABA has just recently completed its inaugural Summer Pro League. Organized by Sean Higgins and his partner Victoria, owners of the Inglewood Cobras. It was a very successful campaign for the league. Action packed ABA excitement at its finest.

This was the very first time that many of the players, coaches, media and fans had the chance to experience the ABA game live. They now all know what the ABA officials have known all along - that the ABA game is second to none in overall style and excitement. With a few of its ABA innovative rules combined with the "call style" of the game, which allows it to be played out in the most popular style of the NCAA game, and a more truer form of the game. The ABA game plays out as one of the finest forms of basketball to play, coach or view anywhere in the world.

The experienced ABA officials that were involved in the summer pro league were definitely a cornerstone for its success. Their presence and experience kept things running smoothly. They were actually teaching and leading the way, the ABA way, to all of the new players and coaches.

The officials performed their duties with the utmost professionalism under very difficult circumstances. These were many first time players and coaches and many were playing for a possible roster spot for the season. So needless to say, all these games were very competitive and intense. Extreme game management skills were implemented every game by the officials to defuse the many heated situations. Therefore, with their excellent officiating skills and ABA experience, they kept the games in great control so that the players could play at their highest form of athleticism. With that accomplished, the players delivered some amazing ABA basketball to the many new ABA fans on hand.

There were some record-breaking games as far as ABA scoring goes and 3-Ds as well. The fans loved the 3-D (the ABA's marquee rule that rewards good defensive play) action.

Some of the ABA officials that Director of Officials Tom Chichester had on hand that contributed to the overall success of the first ABA Summer Pro League were ABA crew chief officials Rico Cabrera, John Thompson, Jeff Arredondo, Joe Hanley, David White and Mike Greenstein. As well, ABA first year officials that assisted were Phil Negrete, James Hobson, Jacques Vann, Ben Chua, Bryan Wilson, Lorenz Willis and Liston Thomas.

The ABA will open its regular season November 1st. For more information about ABA officials, contact Tom Chichester at tcrefaba@frontiernet.net or visit www.abalive.com.

Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.



American Basketball Association Stories from August 31, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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