Jr. NBA hits Davao

A TOTAL of 1,013 boys and girls players, aged 10 to 14 years old, came to learn the basics of basketball as 128 coaches learned new strategies for free, NBA-style.

Venue partner Ateneo de Davao University Matina campus was agog with activity as Jr. NBA presented by Alaska held a two-day stop at its Fr. Martinez Sports Center on Feb. 2 and 3. The first day was the coaches' clinic while the second day saw promising youngsters take part in the school clinic. Davao's school clinic surpassed Dagupan Leg's turnout of 436 participants.

Thanks to Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. for hosting the Davao leg that allowed participants to learn from world-class instructors like NBA Asia basketball operations director Sefu Bernard who had a stint with the Toronto Raptors as manager of player development and player programs where he led the personal, professional and social development of Raptors' players and helping them maximize their NBA experience and prepare them for life after the NBA.

He holds a FIBA/IOC certification and has served as national development coach and national head coach for Canada Basketball's `Centers for Performance'. He was instrumental to that silver and bronze medal finishes of the women's and men's U17 national teams in the Fiba Americas tournament in 2009 that served as qualifiers for the 2010 Fiba World Championships.

Coach Sefu, during his lecture, introduced the coaching pyramid with fundamental movement skills as foundation or base then fundamental basketball skills, technical skills, strategy and tactics as other components.

A good coach, according to him, doesn't just pick ripe or yellow bananas, as pertaining to talent, but must look for the green ones instead. Cultivating and grooming a raw talent into a good basketball player is the key role of a coach.

Former PBA superstar Jojo Lastimosa also shared his experience and expertise to coaches and players alike. His mere presence inspired participants, especially the kids, to be an achiever not just in basketball but also in life.

The Jr. NBA regional selection camp in Davao is slated on March 9 and 10. It will consist skills stations and clinics on the first day and scrimmages and final selections on the second day.

The top players from Day 1 will be invited to attend a mini camp on Day 2 that will feature more advanced basketball drills, scrimmages and team building exercises. Up to top 10 players from the Day 2 participants will get to represent the region to the Jr. NBA National Training Camp in Manila.

The 10 best campers will then form part of the 2013 Jr. NBA Philippine All-Star Team.

The fourth stage of the Jr. NBA program is of course the NBA experience set later this year. Whew! So much is in store for top performing campers. We are hoping for Dabawenyos to make the list.