Youth and grassroots basketball

With the UAAP and NCAA into their ongoing elimination or classification round and the CESAFI season starting on Saturday (August 2), allow us to drift a bit from the mainstream to the lower and less “popular” basketball activities. We refer games being played every weekend a bit under the radar from the more high profile leagues. These are the grassroots youth games of the BEST SBP Passerelle tournament sponsored by Milo.

Now on its 29th season, the tournament, which was popularly known as “Milo BEST” before, is nationwide in scope with provincial legs held from north to south. The Luzon region is composed of Baguio, Pangasinan, Pampanga, and Lucena. The Visayas is made up of Iloilo, Bacolod, Roxas and Cebu. Mindanao’s legs are in Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, General Santos and Davao. Metro Manila is a region on its own. There are two age groups or divisions called the Passerelle and Small Basketeers Philippines (SBP).

The SBP is for the Under 12 age group while the Passerelle division is for the Under 15 division. In the SBP division, each team is composed of five players who are under 12 years old (born 2002), five players who are under 11 years old (born 2003) and five players who are under 10 (born 2004). All Passerelle teams are composed of five players under 15 (born 1999), five players under 14 (born 2000) and five players under 13 (born 2001). As a feeder program for the higher age groups, the Passerelle and SBP divisions serve as the stepping board for prospects for the high school and collegiate divisions. Passerelle players move on to their school’s Juniors teams when they turn 16.

Here in Cebu, the championship game for the Passerelle division was played yesterday with the University of the Visayas (UV) winning over Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC), 56-53. Both teams are past champions with UV winning the title in 2012 while SHS-AdC won five straight titles from 2007 to 2011.

The other teams in the Passerelle division are University of San Carlos (USC), Cebu Eastern College (CEC), University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R), University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF), Southwestern University (SWU) and Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC). The elimination round games of the SBP division will wrap up on Tuesday with back to back champion USC leading the pack. The other SBP  teams are SHS-AdC, UV, DBTC, CEC and USJ-R. The Cebu SBP and Passerelle champions will then face the champions from Bacolod, Iloilo and Roxas in the Visayas Regional Finals in November, while the different regional champions from Luzon, Mindanao, Metro Manila and Visayas meet in the national finals which Cebu will host in December.

Through the years, the SBP Passerelle tournament has been a source of players for the most respected school teams in both the high school and collegiate divisions. From the Cebu ranks, among those who played here include UP’s Henry Asilum and Paul Desiderio, NU’s Dave Yu, Rendell Senining and Cris Yap (NU high school), FEU’s Reeve Ugsang, and Arnie Padilla, Ateneo’s Kris Porter, Koko Pingoy (Team B) and Andrey Armenion (Team B), San Sebastian’s Michael Lorenzo Balankig, Arellano’s Julius Cadavis, and Adamson’s Dawn Ochea. I hope I didn’t miss any names. (Sorry if I did). CESAFI’s college and high school teams are also filled with SBP Passerelle products. If you glance at the line-ups of all the teams, a fair guesstimate would indicate that around 80% of high school teams got their players from the Passerelle ranks.

The UAAP and NCAA are also filled with SBP Passerelle products with its rich and deep history. The “poster boys” today are the Ravena brothers Kiefer and Thirdy (Ateneo de Manila), along with Jeron Teng and Chris Tiu who both played for Xavier School. Kiefer also once played SBP basketball for La Salle Greenhills. The current Philippine Under 18 and 17 national teams are also packed with players who once played in the SBP or Passerelle ranks, or both.

But why stress the importance of grassroots and youth basketball amidst the big leagues? Why even bother? We must all realize that all successful things always have simple and humble beginnings that rarely get any recognition. Lebron James is a big hit it Cleveland today, but does anyone remember where he played basketball as an Under 12 player? Surely he didn’t just become an excellent player overnight, did he? We just need to remember never to forget where it all started. Where it all came from. Where it all started. No more, no less. And then say thanks for being given the opportunity to have been part of youth and grassroots basketball.

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Time-out: Our prayers go out to Mother Pius (Poor Clare Monastery) on her jubilee year. >>> You can reach me at [email protected].