Oplan Beijing
Bleacher Talk
July 22, 2007
Oplan Beijing
When Team Pilipinas opens its drive to make it to the Beijing Olympics later in the week, all of the Philippines will be watching. And whether or not they like it, the PBA-initiated national training team program is going to be on the hot seat. All eyes will be on them and these eyes won’t be those of only the basketball family. The entire sports family: officials and fans alike will be training their critical eyes on the most talked about national team program in years.
And the million-dollar question? Is this the correct formula to bring the Philippines to the Olympics?
If the Philippines makes it to the Olympics, then a resounding “yes” will automatically be the answer. If we fail to qualify, many people will say “no.” But that’s not going to stop others from saying “yes.” The “yes” group will provide a disclaimer that the program that was ran for the past year wasn’t exactly the same as the original version proposed by national team Coach Chot Reyes. Blame it on the FIBA suspension that stalled all activities of the long-term program designed by Coach Chot, they’ll surely add.
But what exactly are we judging? A review of a little bit of history and comparisons to other countries might be of help. We all know that the Philippines hasn’t faired well in previous international competitions including the prestigious and elusive Olympic qualifier tournaments. Basketball historians will always lament about how we once dominated Asian basketball in the past, but have had difficulty in getting back to the top in the past two (maybe three?) decades.
The Philippine teams that were organized to represent the country in international tournaments in the 90’s until around 2004 were “last-minute” teams. These teams didn’t have the country’s best players on board, and preparations were hurried and typical of the procrastinating Pinoy. We had a bunch of minor league players donning the colors of the country in some tournaments while we also had no-name collegiate players in others. In the middle of this were all the politics that destroyed basketball unity. We also had a PBA-laced team in the Asian Games, but the team’s period to prepare for the tournament was seen as too short for comfort.
What do other countries do? The more dominant countries these days maintain a pool of national players who get together to practice as a team during the off-season, when their players aren’t playing for their respective professional teams. These players, however, have been playing together every off-season for a long period of time. It’s an annual activity for the team and a great way for the pros to stay in shape while on their summer breaks. The best examples of this would be the national team programs of Argentina, Spain, and other European countries. While their national team players play professional ball in the NBA and European leagues, they still find time to practice as a team every summer. Over time, Argentina has used this formula to win an Olympic medal as well as score an upset over Team USA. Spain is another excellent model for this set-up winning a World Basketball Championship (WBC) (with their star player injured on the bench).
And how can we forget Team USA? After going through a series of serious wake-up calls in the past Olympics and WBC, what are they doing? Actually, nothing significantly different. They continue with their tradition of gathering their pros for a national training camp, but this is good for only around a month before the start of their Olympic qualifier tournament. While this may be enough for a qualifier type of a tournament, it has no longer worked for the big ones: Olympics and WBC. They’re no longer the invincible team that the world was once afraid of, and they’re still using the same program that hasn’t produced an Olympic or WBC gold in the past decade.
This brings us back to the Philippines. Coach Chot’s program takes it a step further. He has taken a different approach from those of other countries. He has gathered the pool of national team players to practice and play together since the summer. The players have been “released” from their pro teams during the pro season, to practice and play for the flag with the goal of creating a cohesive unit by the time they play their first game in the Olympic qualifier in Japan. Millions of pesos have been spent on the team, including trips abroad to play in international tune-up tournaments and training sessions in the U.S. It’s the most comprehensive program in the history of the sport and we’re going to find out if it was all worth it.
This is the interesting aspect about this whole thing. Will Coach Chot’s different approach finally be the one? Is this the answer to all our questions? Stay tuned as we’ll find out real soon.
***
Time-out: Happy birthday to Leo Mendoza! >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com
July 22, 2007
Oplan Beijing
When Team Pilipinas opens its drive to make it to the Beijing Olympics later in the week, all of the Philippines will be watching. And whether or not they like it, the PBA-initiated national training team program is going to be on the hot seat. All eyes will be on them and these eyes won’t be those of only the basketball family. The entire sports family: officials and fans alike will be training their critical eyes on the most talked about national team program in years.
And the million-dollar question? Is this the correct formula to bring the Philippines to the Olympics?
If the Philippines makes it to the Olympics, then a resounding “yes” will automatically be the answer. If we fail to qualify, many people will say “no.” But that’s not going to stop others from saying “yes.” The “yes” group will provide a disclaimer that the program that was ran for the past year wasn’t exactly the same as the original version proposed by national team Coach Chot Reyes. Blame it on the FIBA suspension that stalled all activities of the long-term program designed by Coach Chot, they’ll surely add.
But what exactly are we judging? A review of a little bit of history and comparisons to other countries might be of help. We all know that the Philippines hasn’t faired well in previous international competitions including the prestigious and elusive Olympic qualifier tournaments. Basketball historians will always lament about how we once dominated Asian basketball in the past, but have had difficulty in getting back to the top in the past two (maybe three?) decades.
The Philippine teams that were organized to represent the country in international tournaments in the 90’s until around 2004 were “last-minute” teams. These teams didn’t have the country’s best players on board, and preparations were hurried and typical of the procrastinating Pinoy. We had a bunch of minor league players donning the colors of the country in some tournaments while we also had no-name collegiate players in others. In the middle of this were all the politics that destroyed basketball unity. We also had a PBA-laced team in the Asian Games, but the team’s period to prepare for the tournament was seen as too short for comfort.
What do other countries do? The more dominant countries these days maintain a pool of national players who get together to practice as a team during the off-season, when their players aren’t playing for their respective professional teams. These players, however, have been playing together every off-season for a long period of time. It’s an annual activity for the team and a great way for the pros to stay in shape while on their summer breaks. The best examples of this would be the national team programs of Argentina, Spain, and other European countries. While their national team players play professional ball in the NBA and European leagues, they still find time to practice as a team every summer. Over time, Argentina has used this formula to win an Olympic medal as well as score an upset over Team USA. Spain is another excellent model for this set-up winning a World Basketball Championship (WBC) (with their star player injured on the bench).
And how can we forget Team USA? After going through a series of serious wake-up calls in the past Olympics and WBC, what are they doing? Actually, nothing significantly different. They continue with their tradition of gathering their pros for a national training camp, but this is good for only around a month before the start of their Olympic qualifier tournament. While this may be enough for a qualifier type of a tournament, it has no longer worked for the big ones: Olympics and WBC. They’re no longer the invincible team that the world was once afraid of, and they’re still using the same program that hasn’t produced an Olympic or WBC gold in the past decade.
This brings us back to the Philippines. Coach Chot’s program takes it a step further. He has taken a different approach from those of other countries. He has gathered the pool of national team players to practice and play together since the summer. The players have been “released” from their pro teams during the pro season, to practice and play for the flag with the goal of creating a cohesive unit by the time they play their first game in the Olympic qualifier in Japan. Millions of pesos have been spent on the team, including trips abroad to play in international tune-up tournaments and training sessions in the U.S. It’s the most comprehensive program in the history of the sport and we’re going to find out if it was all worth it.
This is the interesting aspect about this whole thing. Will Coach Chot’s different approach finally be the one? Is this the answer to all our questions? Stay tuned as we’ll find out real soon.
***
Time-out: Happy birthday to Leo Mendoza! >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com
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