Filipino ex-New York Knicks doctor coming home for FIBA World Cup
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey – After stepping down from his “dream job” with the New York Knicks, Dr. Erwin Benedict Valencia is coming home to the Philippines just in time to lend his expertise to the country’s hosting of the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
Valencia — whose nearly 10-year tenure with the Knicks as their Team Physical Therapist and Wellness Lead and for three seasons as their Director of Training and Conditioning, fully comes to a close at the end of August — will be part of the FIBA World Cup courtside medical team as a volunteer.
“I've spent almost 20 years in professional sports here in the US, to be able to be home and have literally the world come to the Philippines, parang perfect homecoming for me,” Valencia told Philstar.com.
For the last two years, Valencia has reached out to several teams, including Team USA, Gilas Pilipinas and Team Lebanon, to volunteer his services as part of their medical staff, but none has materialized.
It was not until last June that his wish was granted to work for his country in the biggest sporting event it is hosting after Dr. Rich Pasion, a friend and sports medicine colleague, visited him in New York after coming from the ISAKOS Congress in Boston.
Dr. Pasion, the medical director at Focus Athletics, got Valencia on board after getting a go-signal upon returning to the Philippines.
“I just want to volunteer. I want to help. I'm flying myself there. I’ll stay at my parent's place,” Valencia said.
Even if that role is being only a liaison since he said, each country has its own medical team, from orthopedic to primary care, physios, athletic trainers and strength coaches. He believes his NBA experience would be of help. And it helps, too, that he can speak the Filipino language.
“I’ve served other people in another part of the world for so long. It's such an honor to be able then to serve those people from another part of the world back in my hometown,” Valencia said.
His colleagues at Team USA and other international teams, staff and players included, are looking forward to seeing a familiar face in Manila.
“It’s like, ‘I’ll go to your house and stay in your home for a bit… Yeah, medyo dyahe pa tayo to go there.’ Now, you're coming to my house, akong bahala sa inyo,” he said.
Valencia is looking to move back to the Philippines, where he spent his childhood and teenage years, for what he called a “sabbatical leave” after experiencing excruciating back pain last June. The injury scare forced him into deep reflection and to revisit his priorities after working non-stop in one of the most demanding markets in the NBA since joining the Knicks in the 2014-15 season.
Prior to his Knicks job, he also previously worked as the Rehabilitation Director of the Pittsburgh Pirates for eight seasons as he became the first Filipino to be on the medical staff in any major US sports league.
Valencia studied grade school and high school at De La Salle Zobel and college at the University of the Philippines. He continued his studies in the US, New Zealand and Europe.
After the FIBA World Cup, Valencia plans to spend a month in Siargao to decompress and fly back to the US to receive his Distinguished Alumni award from the University of the Philippines Alumni Association in America.
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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for the New York-based website Heavy.com.
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