DAVAO CITY April 03 (PIA)-Five Dabawenyo kids will join five other young promising southern cagers for the Jr. NBA national training camp in Manila. This April 26-28.
Paolo Coquilla, Wynch Hart Montemayor, Mahloney Tarranza, Cornelio Reta and John Cañete will join, Jan Gabriel Sobrevega and Jose Antiporda from Bacolod City, John Lloyd Bernales and Lorenz Viajar from Bukidnon and Anthony Sistoza from General Santos as representatives of the Mindanao region.
The kids ages 10-14 were among the shortlisted participants during the regional selection camp held last April 1 and 2 at the new University of Southeastern Philippines gymnasium in Davao City. A total of 499 kids participated in the basketball selection camp.
The finalists were chosen by the Jr. NBA evaluation committee headed by Jr. NBA head coach Sefu Bernard, who is the Senior Director of Basketball Operations of NBA Asia and PBA Legend Jojo Lastimosa of the Alaska Power Camp.
The kids strutted their all-around basketball skills to impress the evaluators; another factor in the selection was how they exhibited the Jr. National Basketball Association’s core S.T.A.R. values of Sportsmanship, Teamwork, (a positive) Attitude and Respect were key factors in their selection.
This was a very competitive group that made the job of the coaching staff to make a decision very difficult.. It’s great to see such a fantastic turnout and such a deep pool of future Pinoy basketball players to come,” said Coach Sefu Bernard who once served as the manager of players program at the Toronto Raptors in the NBA.
In Manila all the best players from each region will pit skills and the ways, in which they express the STAR values during the three-day boot camp, The ten best performers selected in the National Training Camp will be this year’s Jr. NBA Philippines All Star Team.
Mugsy Bogues, who is known as the shortest guy to ever play in the NBA will be in Manila to join the Jr. NBA coaching staff.
The Jr. NBA all-star team will also be rewarded with a trip abroad for an authentic NBA experience and the chance to play with a counterpart Jr. NBA team abroad.
Brought to the Philippines in 2007 the Jr. NBA is a series of basketball clinics and camps for young ballers. By 2012 the program reached more than 500 schools and 60,000 students, parents, and coaches across the country.
The program is presented by Alaska Powered Milk Drink which is linking it through its Alaska Power Camp sports program, one of the partners in the six-year old basketball activity is Davao-based fuel company Phoenix Petroleum. (PIA/RG Alama)
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