A boost for women’s basketball
WOMEN’S basketball here, at least on the national team and international level has been doing relatively well in recent years.
But locally, we lack a stable women’s commercial basketball league where ex collegiate players can look forward to after finishing their studies. This has been a long time wish that Gilas women’s head coach Patrick Aquino shared with me a few years ago.
There have been attempts to organize one with the women’s edition of the National Basketball League (NBL) among them but I understand it only lasted for a few conferences.
On Wednesday, January 22, the more stable Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) tries anew and if only for the fact that 14 teams signed up for it for the three-month long conference, paying a P150K entry fee, compared to the NBL’s P300K if I heard right, is a good indication.
The 14 teams, which includes five school-based teams, with reinforcements for a couple of them, are divided into two groups. The top teams to clash in the finals, a best-of-3 affair. The twist is, the teams play the other group’s teams, 7 games in all.
For the record, Group A consists of Discovery, Aguilas ADU, Cavite, Centro Escolar, PSP, Far Eastern University, and Solar while Group B has University of Sto. Tomas, New Zealand, San Juan, Imus, Relentless, Philippine Navy, and Galleries- backed University of the East- Philippine Air Force combine.
How did I know all of these?
Simple, my long-time friend national team coach and University of the East Lady Warriors mentor Ai Lebornio, it follows she will also handle the UE- PAF team, requested me to conduct a mini team building session for her team yesterday morning, Saturday, at the UE gym in Gastambide.
I have shared in the past that I have helped out Ai with her Lyceum Lady Pirates and the UE Lady Warriors team in its mental strengthening, and she is also looking beyond the WMPBL for the forthcoming UAAP wars for her UE team.
The two teams have been training together for more than two weeks and she believes this combined team is capable of reaching the finals of the tournament.
A combination of youth from the UE side, and experience from the Air Force team that includes some Adamson players that Lyceum played in the UNIGAMES in Dumaguete more than ten years ago, Ai has been impressed with what her players have been learning from their more experienced teammates.
But she wanted to include a mental strengthening aspect in her preparation so I had to wake up early morning yesterday and was in UE by 6 a.m.
I shared with the players the need to know and understand themselves and their teammates, their strengths and weaknesses, the importabce of attitude as a partner of skills, doing talks and inter active sessions that they enjoyed.
And Ai agreed that there is a need to do more sessions for the team in the coming days. In fact we will be doing separate sessions for her UE team, including an adventure team-building in Mt. Banahaw this summer, the same thing we did for her Lyceum and previous UE teams. And I am doing pro bono for her.
The best part was after the practice that followed the mini team building session, there was a boodle lunch waiting for us in an adjacent room , with more than enough food that we ate with bare hands.
If Ai believes her UE- Air Force team can make it all the way to the finals in the WMPBL, it is a different story for her UE squad, for a team that only won one game last season, she is making it her goal to enter the Final 4 in the UAAP , even as she concedes the top two slots to National University and UST.
By the way, among the players yesterday was Camille Ramos,daughter of old friend Bong Ramos, once again proving that I have grown old as I am interviewing children of players or coaches of yesteryears.
Camille, presently a high school girls’ basketball coach seems destined to follow her father’s foorsteps in coaching, Bong is with the coaching staff of the Quezon City team in the MPBL.
Well it seems my interest in basketball will be renewed , but on the women’s side of it.
So be it.
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