Cebu Basketball & the National Team

It isn’t too often that Cebu gets a chance to send prospects to try out for a national team in basketball. Manila almost always produces all the players of a national basketball team due to their development and progress in the sport. Moreover, the kids from Manila are also better fed and have “better” breeding (to borrow a term from cockfighting). In the same way that it’s strange to find Cebu basketball products on a national team, it’s doubly difficult to manage any national team. For starters, it’s costly. It’s also a pain in the butt, having to deal with all the numerous schools, coaches, parents and fans who expect nothing but extraordinary achievements from a bunch of young upstarts.

But after having had the chance to chat with Philippine Youth Under-16 Team head coach Olsen Racela and team manager Joel Lopa, I must admit that I have to be impressed with the way things are developing for local basketball. They came to Cebu to meet Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) President Fr. Manny Uy SJ to break the good news that three SHS-AdC students made it to the top 24 cut of the ongoing tryouts for the national Under-16 team. We’re talking about making the cut here and not even making it to the national team. And it merited the visit of the head coach and team manager who also have other more important matters to tend to in Manila. Racela missed a San Miguel practice (as an assistant coach, not player) while Lopa didn’t hold office at his full-time job at the TAO Corporation. Wow. Impressed was I indeed. When eight Cebu-based players were invited to join the tryout camp on February 5, they were taken to Manila, all expenses paid, inclusive of airplane fares, transportation, meals and accommodations. This only proved how professional and sincere the team management was in running the affairs of the national team. If this took place ten years ago, this wouldn’t have happened at all. They would’ve told the school to simply send their players to Manila. Period.

Realizing that making a trip to Manila meant missing school at this important juncture of the schoolyear, SHS-AdC was expectedly concerned with how the players will have to cope with classes. The end of the fourth grading period or quarter is just around the corner and it’s common knowledge that athletes aren’t exactly like the Chris Tiu or Bill Bradley prototype. And so while the school worked out a scheme to keep the players busy studying away from school, the Philippine team management offered to provide tutors for the players in Manila. Now that’s a first. This is unprecedented. Never before have we heard of providing tutors for national team players. They were always made to go to camp to simply play ball. No more, no less. Another wow.

Another welcome development is how the national team management will keep the boys committed to the national team and one’s mother team (mostly school-based). Being in Manila means that one is also closer to the recruiters with the biggest budgets and sweet-talking ways. Lopa clarified that the national team players will be asked to focus only on the national team and nothing else. Recruiters won’t be welcome and players will be expected to be loyal to their mother school-based teams. This is where Olsen steps in as a coach without “utang na loob” and strings attached to any school, including his own alma mater Ateneo.

From the Cebu side, it’s flattering to note that our youth-based players are now catching the attention of scouts and coaches from Manila. Even if they don’t make the final cut of 18 players to the national team, the mere fact that they made the top 18 and that eight were originally invited to join the camp is a testament that Cebu Basketball is slowly but surely picking up. Take note the last product out of Cebu Basketball who’s up there among the best is Dondon Hontiveros. The bad news is that there doesn’t seem to be a legitimate Cebu superstar set to follow Dondon’s path as one of the country’s best professional basketball players soon. This latest development must be a sign that something good is happening in the Cebu Basketball scene. But these things don’t happen overnight. It will still take some time before Cebu makes a big impact on the sport anew. But we must be on the right track. The numerous age group competitions have done their share in upgrading the level of play across Cebu.

Will the three eventually make it to the Philippine Youth Under-16 team? Will they fit in well into the system being used by Coach Olsen? Is Cebu finally making a move to get closer to Manila basketball? Let’s all pray for the best and continue working hard to making Cebu Basketball even better.

***

Time-out: Happy birthday Nadie Sia out there in Riverside. >>> You can reach me at [email protected].