Ambitious?

 Yes.

 Then again, the Northside Minor Basketball Association was built on ambition.

 As the NMBA prepares for its fifth year anniversary in 2012-13, the plan to try and operate more than one team per division has been thrown down with hopes it allows more and more players to try their hand at the competitive level under Basketball New Brunswick's umbrella.

 In the past, the NMBA has run three bantam teams at the A, B and C level, but the association wants to see more of that moving forward.

 'You look at the numbers that come out for our middle school teams in December and you  know there are children looking to play basketball,' NMBA board member Ryan Chase. 'Some of the schools had almost 30 players trying out for their teams at different grade levels for boys and girls. You know they're out there, but the NMBA would like to see them playing at the highest level they possibly can.'

 That would mean mini boys and girls and bantam boys and girls having A and B teams wearing the Lion colours in 2012-13.

 'We're always getting emails or phone calls asking for places to play and sometimes those calls come during the middle or the end of a competitive season,' said Chase. 'Awareness is a big part of our plan and we've done a lot this year by going into area schools to promote basketball fundamentals. We've had big numbers for those sessions and we hope people will like what they see and come out when tryouts start in September.'

 Capturing the audience is one of the biggest hurdles the NMBA is facing.