Welcome to Seville

SEVILLE – Right after the Philippines was drawn to Group B for the FIBA World Cup, Seville Mayor Juan Ignacio Zoido sought out Gilas coach Chot Reyes to welcome the national team to the Spanish city that is over 2,000 years old.

Zoido was in the audience during the draw at the majestic Palau de la Musica in Barcelona last Monday. In the seeded and modified draw, the Philippines was bracketed with 2004 Olympic gold medalist Argentina, Croatia, Greece, Puerto Rico and Senegal. At the end of the draw, Reyes was brought to a conference room where he was interviewed for TV. Mayor Zoido then walked up to Reyes to introduce himself. Facilitating the meeting was Spanish-speaking Carmela Teresa (Tinky) Cabreira, vice consul of the Philippine Embassy in Madrid. Cabreira went to Barcelona on Ambassador Carlos Salinas’ advice to extend the Embassy’s support.

The morning after the draw, Reyes was on a Ryanair flight from Barcelona to Seville with Gilas team manager Aboy Castro and logistics director Andrew Teh. As soon as they touched down, the Filipinos rode a bus to the 7,000-seat Palacio Municipal de Deportes where the Group B preliminaries will be played. Translator Concha Ortiz, who visited the Philippines with her husband and two children six years ago, toured the Filipinos around the facility. Ortiz will be the main translator for media during the tournament.

Of the four venues hosting the preliminaries, Seville has the least seating capacity. But there are several positives that offset the handicap. An entire bleacher section is reserved for media, for instance. Reyes said he expects about 25 Filipinos from media flying in for the games. The bleacher section is close to the “mixed zone” where players and coaches may be ambush-interviewed after each contest. It’s also close to the media work area in a tent inside the stadium and the press conference room. The group also checked out the gym, a practice full court, locker rooms, showers and a VIP lounge with access to a reserved seating section.

While looking over the practice full court, a battalion of female senior citizens crowded around Teh. The ladies were in exercise outfits and doing walking exercises on the floor. They told Teh that if he’s thinking of buying the stadium, the senior citizens will come along in the purchase. Everybody had a hearty laugh at the suggestion.

Reyes met up with Cajasol Sevilla basketball team coach Aito Garcia in the building. Garcia, on his third year with the squad, was drilling his young players when Reyes came. They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Reyes said if Garcia is available, he may tap his services to augment the coaching staff. Garcia has a wealth of experience coaching in Europe leagues and his insights will be valuable in Gilas’ preparations for Greece and Croatia.

Reyes and his companions also went to the Barcelo Renacimiento Hotel where the six competing teams will be billeted. Of the six teams, only the Philippines took the trouble of flying to Seville after the draw. Argentina was scheduled to also make an ocular inspection but the delegation decided to detour to Malaga instead. The hotel is split into three separate “domes” with 100 rooms each. The Philippines and Argentina will be in one building while the other four teams will be in a separate building. Reyes had the choice of where Gilas will be billeted and picked the building closest to a restaurant and a conference room. He also selected his room No. 2335 whose numbers add up to lucky 13. Reyes said he felt good vibes and a positive aura in the room. By the way, 2+3 and 2+3+3+5 both equal lucky eight.

The group had a late 3 p.m. lunch at the Robles restaurant hosted by Sevilla Film Office director Eduardo Corcuera. During lunch, the Filipinos were briefed on the highlights of Seville’s history. It was pointed out that Seville hosted the World Expo in 1992, the 7th World Athletics Championships, the Davis Cup finals in 2004 and 2011, the 2002 World Rowing Championships and the 2007 Eurobasket Championships. Seville’s rowing facility is one of only three FISA recognized training centers in the world. Corcuera mentioned that popular actress Paz Vega comes from Seville.

As a sports hub, Seville is home to two top-flight football clubs Real Betis and Sevilla Football Club and the basketball team Cajasol. The consensus choice of Seville’s greatest basketball player ever is Raul Perez whose No. 9 jersey hangs on the ceiling of the local stadium. Other famous Sevillians are painter Diego Velazquez, Olympic swimmer Fatima Madrid, footballers Nando Munoz, Jesus Capitan and Jose Antonio Reyes and Felipe Gonzalez who served as Spanish president from 1982 to 1996.

Seville also has three public universities, including the University of Seville which was founded in 1505, over 12 museums covering a wide range of interests including bullfighting, flamenco and archeological finds and the Cathedral of St. Mary, built from 1401-1519, the largest medieval and Gothic church in the world. Temperature is expected to average 24.5 degrees Celsius during the competition. Seville enjoys a sister relationship with several cities including Baler in Quezon, Buenos Aires, Kansas City, Guadalupe, Havana, Caracas, Ho Chih Minh and Barcelona. Seville was the location in shooting scenes of several movies including “Knight and Day” with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz and “Lawrence of Arabia” with Peter O’Toole.

One of the Philippines’ Group B opponents Puerto Rico will bring in naturalized citizen John Holland who played for Cajasol last season. Holland, 25, has a fan following in the city and no doubt, will try to generate bleacher support for his squad to offset the Filipino crowd.