BEST Experience of Basics & Discipline
Bleacher Talk
May 11, 2008
BEST Experience of Basics & Discipline
It’s the kind of summer experience that we never had before when we were younger. It’s more than just a basketball clinic. It’s a clinic where friendship, discipline, skills and growing up are packaged into six days of intense drills and fun games. That in a nutshell is what the Basketball Efficiency and Scientific Training (BEST) Center is all about.
Am I biased? Yes, I surely am. After all, we did handle this year’s activities of the BEST Center as its local partner for the first time. But biased or not, you’ll see that any objective analysis of the BEST clinic sponsored by Milo will bring you the same comments as above.
We’ve always been somewhat intrigued with the BEST Center ever since it created an impact on the country’s basketball scene after launching its first program 30 years ago. How good is it? How good are their coaches? Are they the only clinic for basketball? Are they the best? The best way to find out about all this was to check it ourselves.
Let’s put everything in the proper perspective. As far as basketball clinics are concerned, all of these teach the basics and fundamentals that are necessary to grow in the sport. They’re basically the same, focused towards the objective of making one grow and improve in the sport. Nothing wrong there. So what sets BEST apart from the rest of the lot? That’s what I wanted to find out. I wanted to know what made BEST so special even if it was more expensive than any other clinic being offered. Neither did it offer the kind of freebies that people always ask about when they inquire about fees.
If there was one thing that stood out in the clinic, it would have to be the level of discipline that the two BEST Center coaches instilled among over a hundred boys, most of whom they were meeting for the very first time. Discipline was the name of the game from the get go. When that first long whistle was made and an overwhelming reply of “Defense” was made, we knew why the BEST was different. The coaches didn’t have a dictatorial control over the kids, but everybody listened. The coaches didn’t use force or intimidation to have the kids follow all instructions, yet everybody followed them. The coaches simply laid down the rules and guidelines for all, and the rest moved on smoothly without a hitch. Having achieved this, it was smooth as silk for the succeeding for the 24-hour training module spread over six days of four-hour training sessions.
The other highlight that complemented the discipline angle about the clinic was that the boys were made to realize that the basics were just that: the basics. Without these, nobody would be able to develop oneself in the sport. The icing on the cake turned out that all drills about the basics were fun on top of being necessary. The basics were nothing new. The kids were taught about ball-handling, dribbling, stances, passing, shooting, running and all other basic basketball movements. But the manner and discipline through which they were asked to implement these drills was far more different from the many clinics which I’ve seen or given. The wonder of it all was how only two coaches had 118 kids doing the drills by themselves with everyone seriously working to improve themselves each time a drill was being done. It was virtually impossible for the two coaches to guide every single student, yet you saw the efforts of every boy wanting to become better than what they were like on the first day. It was clear that they wanted to be better at the drills as Day 1 turned into Day 6. Otherwise, the clinic would’ve been a waste of time.
The highlight of “Basics and Discipline” was on the last day when the boys showed off their skills before their biggest fans: their parents. Spread over two courts of the Sacred Heart School-Jesuit covered courts, it was like a school’s Founders Day field demonstration. Proudly showing off how they improved from the first day, the boys didn’t want to do anything wrong before their parents. Proudly standing at the sidelines and in front of the kids were their parents taking endless series of pictures with their proud faces showing off ear-to-ear smiles.
May 11, 2008
BEST Experience of Basics & Discipline
It’s the kind of summer experience that we never had before when we were younger. It’s more than just a basketball clinic. It’s a clinic where friendship, discipline, skills and growing up are packaged into six days of intense drills and fun games. That in a nutshell is what the Basketball Efficiency and Scientific Training (BEST) Center is all about.
Am I biased? Yes, I surely am. After all, we did handle this year’s activities of the BEST Center as its local partner for the first time. But biased or not, you’ll see that any objective analysis of the BEST clinic sponsored by Milo will bring you the same comments as above.
We’ve always been somewhat intrigued with the BEST Center ever since it created an impact on the country’s basketball scene after launching its first program 30 years ago. How good is it? How good are their coaches? Are they the only clinic for basketball? Are they the best? The best way to find out about all this was to check it ourselves.
Let’s put everything in the proper perspective. As far as basketball clinics are concerned, all of these teach the basics and fundamentals that are necessary to grow in the sport. They’re basically the same, focused towards the objective of making one grow and improve in the sport. Nothing wrong there. So what sets BEST apart from the rest of the lot? That’s what I wanted to find out. I wanted to know what made BEST so special even if it was more expensive than any other clinic being offered. Neither did it offer the kind of freebies that people always ask about when they inquire about fees.
If there was one thing that stood out in the clinic, it would have to be the level of discipline that the two BEST Center coaches instilled among over a hundred boys, most of whom they were meeting for the very first time. Discipline was the name of the game from the get go. When that first long whistle was made and an overwhelming reply of “Defense” was made, we knew why the BEST was different. The coaches didn’t have a dictatorial control over the kids, but everybody listened. The coaches didn’t use force or intimidation to have the kids follow all instructions, yet everybody followed them. The coaches simply laid down the rules and guidelines for all, and the rest moved on smoothly without a hitch. Having achieved this, it was smooth as silk for the succeeding for the 24-hour training module spread over six days of four-hour training sessions.
The other highlight that complemented the discipline angle about the clinic was that the boys were made to realize that the basics were just that: the basics. Without these, nobody would be able to develop oneself in the sport. The icing on the cake turned out that all drills about the basics were fun on top of being necessary. The basics were nothing new. The kids were taught about ball-handling, dribbling, stances, passing, shooting, running and all other basic basketball movements. But the manner and discipline through which they were asked to implement these drills was far more different from the many clinics which I’ve seen or given. The wonder of it all was how only two coaches had 118 kids doing the drills by themselves with everyone seriously working to improve themselves each time a drill was being done. It was virtually impossible for the two coaches to guide every single student, yet you saw the efforts of every boy wanting to become better than what they were like on the first day. It was clear that they wanted to be better at the drills as Day 1 turned into Day 6. Otherwise, the clinic would’ve been a waste of time.
The highlight of “Basics and Discipline” was on the last day when the boys showed off their skills before their biggest fans: their parents. Spread over two courts of the Sacred Heart School-Jesuit covered courts, it was like a school’s Founders Day field demonstration. Proudly showing off how they improved from the first day, the boys didn’t want to do anything wrong before their parents. Proudly standing at the sidelines and in front of the kids were their parents taking endless series of pictures with their proud faces showing off ear-to-ear smiles.
The boys show off their skills in doing the 14 drills of ball-handling at the Culminatind Day of the BEST Center clinic sponsored by Milo.
We did all that in six days. We never thought this could be achieved, and yes, we were finally convinced why the BEST was something else. I take my hats off to Coaches Rupert Salayo and Eton Navarro (no relation to this writer) who took care of the Cebu clinic of the BEST Center, and to Coach Nic Jorge who started it all 30 years ago.
***
Time-out: Happy birthday to Perry Lim. The clichés goes, “May your tribe increase.” But in your case, it’s truly a must. Thanks for being there for the kids. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
Comments