So here we go into the close season. It promises to be a busy time off the court for Brighton Bears, and on it for some of the players you were cheering last season.

I will be writing here every Saturday to keep you right up to date with news from behind the scenes.

We were obviously doing something right at Brighton last season. The great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is starting to re-build our team over in Oklahoma.

I know some of you are following the Oklahoma Storm via their website and will have seen that Randy Duck has joined Albert White with the USBL side, with talk of Sterling Davis also getting involved.

You might also have seen that a certain Nick Nurse would join the coaching staff "when he completes his coaching season in London."

The big news is I do not coach in London anymore and, secondly, I cannot, at this stage, see myself getting involved with Oklahoma this summer. Yes, the offer is open for me, but we have got a lot of off-court stuff to sort out here.

Playing for Oklahoma looks a good move for Albert. They will have media attention because of Kareem but it means Albert will really have to step up and play.

What he must avoid is a situation where people say 'he couldn't play in the USBL'. He should do well. It is his kind of league and a nice place to spend the summer.

I really enjoyed last season but I admit I was tired at the end of it so, as you read this, I will be forsaking my trip to Wembley and getting some sun on a distant shore somewhere.

In my absence, my co-director Romek Kriwald has been in talks with Steve Piper at the Brighton Centre regarding the staging of matches.

I have made no secret of how key that place is to what we aim to achieve here at the Brighton Bears, be it in terms of big league matches and play-offs, going into Europe or attracting television coverage and sponsorship.

We are very keen to make the most of that venue and I believe we put it to very good use.

I am also on record as saying, however, that anyone with a season ticket to matches at the Triangle last season would have had outstanding value for money. I was not keen on the venue at the start but we made it work and had some great nights there.

We get on well with the staff at Burgess Hill and I have plans which will help develop it into an even more impressive home venue. I will keep you posted as to when and where we expect to be holding our matches.

Of course it will be a long time before we know exactly how next season will work out for us, although I see we are already being tipped as 2003 play-off champions in one basketball newspaper.

That same poll had myself and Robbie Peers sharing the prize for best dressed coach. I presume they judge that on match nights only. I can only believe they did not see that pink shirt Robbie wore at Burgess Hill last month!

Go Bears!

Nick Nurse is head coach and general manager of the Brighton Bears