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TWO
Ateneans, two Bedans and one La Sallite have had one
unforgettable summer.
On April
8, Al Bugarin and Ael Banal of Ateneo High School,
Erlance Feliciano and Aljon Mariano of San Beda High
School and Nicco Montelibano of La Salle-Greenhills left
for the US to collect their prize for work well done in
last year’s Jr. National Basketball Association (NBA)
Program. (A sixth member, Kiefer Ravena—ex-Philippine
Basketball Association player Bong Ravena’s son—opted
not to join the group.)
The five
boys make up the Jr. NBA Philippine Team—the best of the
lot who participated in the Jr. NBA Program of 2007. The
first Jr. NBA activity in the country was a three-month
affair that started with Jr. NBA clinics conducted in 16
Metro Manila schools by JNBA project director Norman
Black and staff. It progressed into basketball
competitions among the 16 schools (which Ateneo won
ultimately over equally tough San Beda). Then the top
performers of the competition underwent intensive
training in a Jr. NBA camp led by Jr. NBA coach Frank
Lopez, who flew in from the States.
In turn,
the most promising campers were tapped to become the Jr.
NBA Philippine Team. Their reward: a trip to the US to
watch an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and
the Los Angeles Clippers—live! Not only that, the
campers actually trained with the Golden State Warriors
in their camp!
Kam Hung
Ip, our good friend from the NBA, which stages Jr. NBA
and NBA Madness in the Philippines, writes that, “The
Jr. NBA Philippine Team’s NBA experience in San
Francisco has been very good! With packed days of
touring, basketball clinics, meet and greets, a live
game, fellowship dinners and cultural exchanges, the
team members [got more] than they ever expected….One
highlight was when the Warriors youth camp director,
Jeff Addiego, and his coaches told me how impressed they
were with the Jr. NBA Philippine Team, both in their
basketball ability [they were easily some of the best
players in the elite clinic] and the fact that they were
nice, polite kids.”
On its
second staging in ’08, Kam Hung says the Jr. NBA hopes
to repeat the feat, and enlarge the scope of the Jr. NBA
into a three-year program involving 200 schools in four
regions: NCR,
Luzon, the Visayas and
Mindanao.
BUT
we’re getting ahead of the story. The boys blogged about
their experience in the Bay Area and posted them on
NBA.com as well.
Erlance
Feliciano went gaga over the game: “We saw some of our
favorite players walking and practicing right in front
of us! It was an unbelievable experience because not
every person has the opportunity to watch an NBA game
live... Watching the Warriors…warm-up was pretty good
because I saw the intensity and the will to win from
each player as this was a must-win for them. If they
lost, they would likely not make it to the playoffs. So
we cheered for the Warriors as the intro music
played….…The Warriors dominated the first quarter
because the game was fast-paced [just the way the
Warriors like it], the scoring high and Golden State had
a very good field-goal percentage as a team, especially
Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson and Baron Davis. Monta
Ellis was nearly unstoppable!…However, in the 2nd
quarter, the LA Clippers were able to knock down baskets
and stop the offense of the Warriors, which resulted in
the lead getting cut to five points at the half.
During
the halftime break we walked around the Oracle Arena
concourse, all along being followed by the NBA TV camera
crew, who were covering our NBA Experience. People kept
on looking at us, trying to figure out who we were, but
it was cool….
After
the game we went down to the Golden State Warriors’
lounge area to have the chance to talk to, get
autographs from and take pictures of Andris Biedrins and
Mickael Pietrus. Too bad we did not get a chance to meet
my favorite players Baron Davis and Monta Ellis, but
still we enjoyed the evening because of Ellis’
outstanding highlights, like connecting for three alley-oop
dunks.…”
Rafael
Banal, meanwhile, describes the Warriors camp that they
joined: “First up was the High Intensity Skills Clinic
of the Warriors Basketball Camp.…At first, they had
everyone shoot around and get the feel of the court.
After a couple of minutes, the Warriors youth basketball
director blew the whistle and everyone sat in rows….We
were surprised to see one of the 50 greatest NBA
players—Chris Mullin...Warriors general manager—[who]
talked to us about how having the proper work ethic can
help you become a successful basketball player and can
also help you lead in life.
We
started the camp with a series of very unusual warm-ups.
We were able to learn warm-up drills that were alien to
us, as compared to our training back in the Philippines.
They were tiring because they involved combinations of
sprints and defensive slides and it really got us going
from the start. After that, it was basketball 101 from
the Camp director coach Jeff Addiego and the other
coaches. They taught us all about the fundamentals:
dribbling, 1-on-1 moves, moving without the ball and
defense.
After
the basic drills, we watched a short video presentation
of some of the great NBA players such as Gilbert Arenas,
Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade, and how they were able to
be who they are today. After that, it was time to…play
5-on-5, the real basketball. It was…a fun-filled
and…breathtaking camp [it was so tiring, we had trouble
breathing!] It was a really good experience for all of
us to be able to meet our peers from America and to
learn from the best.
We were
[also] able to see some of the Warriors up close and
were…able to get autographs from the Warriors’ Austin
Croshere and Andris Biedrins. Isn’t that awesome?!?
Ha-Ha!
Eat your hearts out, NBA fans! |
