Thursday, November 13, 2008 ‘Phenomenal passion’ By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
COACHING is not about winning, but about developing players.
This was the message that Junior National Basketball Association coach Frank Lopez wanted to impart on the coaches who attended the coaches seminar yesterday at the City Sports Club Cebu.
Yesterday, coaches from all over Cebu attended the seminar conducted by Lopez, who has served as a Jr. NBA head coach for four years. The geography teacher also coached high school varsity before becoming an assistant coach for Orlando Magic of the NBA.
“The lessons that we want to teach the kids is to have the Star values—sportsmanship, teamwork, attitude, and respect –which are important for everyone to have not just for basketball but also in life,” he said.
Lopez admitted he was moved by the passion that Filipinos have for basketball.
“Whenever I go around and I see in corners kids without shoes playing under the heat of the sun in a makeshift basketball court, I can’t help but turn my head and watch them. We don’t see that in the US. It is just phenomenal,” said Lopez.
The first step of the Jr. NBA program is the coaches’ clinic. Some select coaches who attended Lopez’ seminar will then assist him in the Open Clinic on Nov. 22 to 23 at SM City Cebu.
Lopez also believes that Filipino cagers stand a good chance of making it big internationally.
“It is not about the size, but the heart. It takes more than height to be good in basketball. Kids need to understand that it needs passion, enthusiasm and hard work to excel in the sport. And Filipinos possess that,” he added.
Starting small
“I have seen Iranians in the NBA draft. It doesn’t matter if they get drafted or not, the fact that they reached that level is good enough. And I say it could happen to Filipinos as well, it has to start somewhere and that is here,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cebu City Councilor Jack Jakosalem, who attended the early part of the training said he wanted to take advantage of the clinic to promote a stronger grassroots program in the barangays.
“This will be a good program to bring to the barangays. I will be talking to the coaches about this endeavor,” he said.
The coaches in the clinic are expected to share what they learned with their players in their own Jr. NBA program in their schools.
Those players, who also want to take part in the said program, will get a chance in the Open Clinic.
The local coaches will then nominate deserving student-athletes to the Regional Training Camps on Dec. 27 and 28. From the expected 200 campers from Cebu and Manila, 20 from each region will be invited to the national training camp next year and of the 40, only six will be selected to form the Philippine Jr NBA team which will see action in the US.
