LAST winter basketball was in abeyance ¿ this year there will be two men's leagues plus a women's league.

It follows a revamp of the summer structure which saw the CellularOne Premier Basketball League attract families of fans to enjoy the action with music, concession stands and half-time prizes.

Bermuda Basketball Association spokesman Tim Trott said the winter action would kick-off in the first week in November with six teams vying for honours in the top tier.

St. George's International who scooped the ten-team summer league are favourites as they take on Death Valley, Bermuda College, Rim Rockers, Cellular One and Cellular One Under 18s high school select team.

The younger team, comprised of the top players from Bermuda's High schools, will use the winter league as a springboard for an overseas competition.

Trott said: "They are preparing to compete in a high school tournament in Las Vegas at Christmas ¿ this is kind of like their preparation. It is a highly anticipated tournament ¿ the majority of teams are from that area but some come from outside."

Last year CedarBridge sent a team ¿ this time the majority are from that school with others from Berkeley, Warwick Academy and Mount Saint Agnes.

Good things are expected from Richard Warner, 18, ¿ a guard in his last year at CedarBridge and Jonathan Lowe, 16.

"He's an up and coming big man," said Trott. "Obviously in Bermuda big men are hard to come by. This man at a young age is showing some promise.

"These two players actually went away to compete in some summer camps in Florida and we have had nothing but good reports come back about them. They also competed in Canada."

Trott is glad there will be domestic winter league action after interest had waned last year.

"All of a sudden guys have been able to say they can put in some time and compete. It's good for everyone."

There has been a lot of interest from players who are new to the island and those who have been out of the game for a while are looking to get on a team.

Games are scheduled for the Bermuda College from Tuesday to Thursday and efforts are being made to have some weekend games at Mount Saint Agnes.

The Commercial League also makes a re-appearance with Fire Service, Sea Venture, AWAC, PWC and Cane Toads who have more recently been in the higher league.

"In the Commercial it is still competitive ¿ you have players who are a little bit older, a little bit more seasoned, but it is still very competitive."

There are also ambitious plans for Bermuda's international programme this year said Trott with efforts to compete in both the Caribbean Championships and the Island Games in Aaland.

"The unfortunate thing is we won't know the actual date and venue of the Caribbean tournament until January which doesn't leave us much time to prepare.

"Again this a worry because we are hoping to do both games and there will be a little gap so players can actually recover.

"Normally the Caribbean Championships are held anywhere from June to August whereas the Island Games you always know where and when it is going to be at least two years in advance. We are just hoping the dates are spread apart enough so we can go to one tournament, go a 100 percent flat out, come back and recover and then be able to go a 100 percent in the next tournament. That's the hope."

Players interested in competing in the winter league, particularly women, should email Bermudabasketball bermuda.com.