Wow, what a great afternoon we had at the beach last Saturday as Ballers In Brighton came to town.

Those of you who attended will already know what an awesome event this was, despite a real soaking in the middle of the afternoon.

We rounded it all with a showcase game featuring the likes of Randy Duck, Mark Jackson, James Brame and Daniel Hildreth. It was played as South Coast versus London. Good to see the South Coast boys get the W.

How could I forget Buddy Johnston? He played pretty well and, when the rain intervened, took the mic and treated us to his rapping skills. He was pretty good too. He's probably got a future. I was going to say he could be the next basketball player/musician a la Shaq, but that's being unkind to Buddy's rap talents.

There some some very talented guys down from London plus a player I have kept tabs on for a while. His name is Julien, he is from France but lives in Brighton and I expect he will get a try out with the Bears.

He's not a raw youngster, he is 24, and this is one of those crazy situations where I might have to say 'we can't give you a job because you're French' because of the BBL player quotas.

I am proud to say my nephew David hit three threes in a row in the showcase game. Wonder where he got his talent from.

Sterling Davis was down there and we had a chat. He knows my offer is on the table and realises he has to make a decision pretty soon now.

When the sun came out later in the afternoon, you would not believe the crowds we had watching what was going on. All in all, another successful venture for the Bears and for Hosana, who did a great job putting the whole thing on.

Our fixtures for the new BBL season should soon be out following on from the publication of the cup and trophy games. Among the fixtures I am sure plenty of you are looking forward to is the cup trip to Solent.

That should be quite an interesting tussle. It is certainly a better draw for us than last year, when we got Chester away. Solent came second in the Championships last year so are clearly a quality NBL outfit. I assume Alan Cunningham will be on the floor and he is someone who can make a lot of things happen.

We will be ready to go. What is really important is we will have the next round at home.

The race for signings continues and I am encouraged to see so many players returning to the clubs they were at last season. I have stressed all along how important continuity is in building the Bears roster of 2002-03 and other coaches seem to be like-minded.

There were some great new guys in this league last year. We had three of them. Albert White, Sterling and Rodger Farrington were all new to the BBL when I signed them.

I think this is good, it helps fans identify with the various teams, and yet I still hear complaints. If they get continuity, they will want more new faces. People will complain either way, that is one thing we have found out in this league but I believe we are on the tight track.

GO BEARS!

Nick Nurse is head coach and general manager of Brighton Bears