One of the things Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony "Samsam" Gullas Jr. was planning before everything turned upside down in 2020 was a sports summit for Talisay. He invited me to talk in the summit to share my point of view of how sports, or specifically, school sports should be treated.
I was reminded of that last Friday when I, along with Moalboal Sports Committee members Rodolfo Borja, Roel Macasero and Dondon Delgado, went around south to distribute an invitation for the 2nd Mayor Inocentes Cabaron Inter Town Basketball Tournament.
I always look at the Central Visayas Football Association as the model regional association and I thought, why can't we have that for basketball in Cebu? Tournament invitations are coursed through the CVFA, which plots a football calendar to make sure tournament schedules don’t clash.
Though we’ve had a Cebu Basketball Federation before, or various iterations of a group, it was always to manage a semi-professional league in Metro Cebu and never to oversee basketball in Cebu.
Which is a shame, considering Cebu's rich pedigree in basketball.
I think it was when I was admiring Boljoon's coastline when the idea popped, inspired by Samsam’s sports summit plan pre-Covid 19 pandemic: Why not hold a basketball summit in Cebu?
What would be the purpose of such a summit? It would be to basically gather the basketball stakeholders in the province with the eventual goal of forming the Cebu Basketball Association — basketball’s response to the Cebu Volleyball Association (Ceva). What is Ceva’s primary job? To oversee the Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia Unity Volleyball Cup, still a one of its kind tournament in the country.
Cebu Province has the unique GUV Cup because of Ceva, and of course because of Governor Garcia. Perhaps, with a similar group for basketball, we can have a similar tournament? Of course, it goes without saying that such a summit will have to have the governor’s blessing.
The CBA can start by simply overseeing the Governor’s Cup in Cebu before eventually becoming the governing body for the sport. It could adopt the football model and make sure everyone is represented — players, coaches, referees, organizers and women.
Such an organization, I believe, will set the standard for basketball in the country. Though we have a national sports association for basketball — the SBP — we don’t really have a national sports association for basketball.
What we have is an NSA whose members primarily represent their own agenda — the PBA and the collegiate leagues.
It’s been one frustration of mine; Philippine sports will truly change should every NSA follow the football model. I think Cebu basketball is in a position to do that.
Ah, the things that popped into the mind of a football fan while spending a whole day on the road distributing invitations for a basketball tournament.