With the recent successes of teams and countries not formerly associated with basketball greatness, the BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas officially presented the National Youth Team. The secret to success became clear: get the best young players together, train them together, watch them grow together, then sit back and let them wow the world.

BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas Executive Director Patrick “Pato” Gregorio has never shied away from hard work, and with all the plans SBP has rolling out one after another, hard work kind of goes with the territory. “Sanay na tayo sa maraming trabaho,” (I am used to a heavy work load.) he quips with a wry smile, when I had the chance to speak to him over the phone. One of the things keeping him very busy is getting the national youth team ready for two important upcoming international competitions. “We took a good look at the system of Iran and Argentina, and this is the secret to their success in basketball, starting from the youth,” he declared. Indeed Iran and Argentina have taken the basketball world by surprise. Iran is the current FIBA-Asia champion, having survived the dreaded “group of death” in the recent FIBA-Asia championship, to claim their country’s first ever Asian championship. Argentina is the reigning Olympic gold medalist. “Both countries have successful youth basketball programs, so basically their best players have been playing together and competing together since they were kids,” explained Gregorio.

“That is partly the reason why one of our first major events for the New Year was the introduction of our youth team players to the media,” he added. Some 20 players were introduced at Barbara’s restaurant in historic Intramuros. The SBP leadership is confident that these initial steps will indeed lead to bigger and better things in the not-so-distant future.

La Salle senior varsity coach Franz Pumaren was designated head coach of the youth team. “We were more interested in the commitment of the boys to the national team. So if a player could not give 100% commitment, even if he is a really good player, we had to let them go. The boys you see here now are the ones who gave their full commitment to the team,” Pumaren stated at the presentation. “And as you might have noticed I have not lost my voice so that means I have not been yelling or screaming a lot,” he jokingly added.

The team includes NCAA junior mainstays Jerome Cruz and Jerome Ramos of Jose Rizal, Mark de Guzman of St. Benilde and Anton Altamirano and Nicolas Salva of San Beda. Representing the UAAP are Mark Lopez of UP, Gwyne Capacio, Luigi Dela Paz and Jed Manguera of Zobel, Jovet Mendoza and Joseph Terso of NU, Joseph Marata, Don Fortun and Joel Tolentino of UP Integrated School, Frank Golla of Ateneo de Manila and Andrew Penan of Adamson. Completing the roster presented that particular evening were Gabriel Banal and Jeric Teng of Xavier high school, Andrew Felix of Southridge School and the much-discussed 6-foot-7 Papot Paredes from Cagayan de Oro. Paredes however was not present during the event.

All of this took quite some doing, with Gregorio doing plenty of the legwork himself. Whether it was going to the schools, meeting people over coffee or working lunches, he saw to these things personally. “We talked to all of the coaches and parents about schedules, training and all of the other concerns so everything would go as smoothly as possible,” he said.

Mr. William Whyte, chief of Nokia, the principal sponsor of the RP Youth Team, also has high hopes for the team and Philippine basketball in general. “Nokia, if you will notice, is not into sports sponsorships. But when I was approached for this project I felt the values and goals of the team are similar to the values and goals of Nokia, so we agreed almost immediately,” he said.

First up for the team is the SEABA Youth tournament in Malaysia this May, followed by the FIBA Asian Youth championship in Iran in September. Their long-term goal is to qualify for the Youth Olympics in 2010.

Joseph W Buduan is a military research consultant, former varsity athlete, writer, diehard basketball fanatic, and ardent student of the game.