THRONGS of would-be basketball players from Baguio City, Benguet and nearby provinces trooped to University of the Cordilleras last October 25 for the Talent Identification Camp of the National Basketball Training Center.

But only 180 players were chosen in the Nokia sponsored NBTC D-League where 60 players born in 1992, 60 form those born 1993 and 60 from those who were born in 1994.

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The Talent Identification Camp in Baguio was among the NBTC's Training Identification Camp where players from the various schools from both private and public schools saw action in the one-day tryout.

"We're very thankful kasi madaming dumating na nag sign up pero 180 lang ang nakuha from those who came from as far as Pangasinan and La Union," NBTC D-League Baguio Commissioner Danny Soria said.

Since September, the NBTC organizers already started the talent-identification camp. These camps are aimed at formally introducing the concept of the Nokia NBTC D-League in 32 cities.

Each of the areas had a host of 180 players culled from various public and private schools who were born from 1992 to 1993.

In total, the number of players being considered are 5,760 which spread in Luzon (12 cities), the Visayas (six cities), Mindanao (six cities) and the National Capital Region (eight cities).

Alongside these camps, which take the form of tryouts, there are also coaching workshops to prepare those who will be handling the teams in the tournament proper.

Four teams will be culled from the 180 players who passed the training identification camp who will be part of a tournament which will adopt an intercity format and commence in December and will last for three months with a total of 2,560 players participating.

Soria said the target date for the intercity is from December 2009 to January 2010 for Luzon and NCR and January 2010 to March 2010 for the Visayas and Mindanao.

"This would ensure ample exposure for all the players and the teams," Soria added.