Gilas-Pilipinas trains in Lithuania
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 02 Jun 2013
MANILA (PNA) -- Gilas-Pilipinas flies today to Klaipeda City in Lithuania to begin what coach Chot Reyes termed as its ?61-Day Trip to History? in the hope of forming a competitive team for this year?s FIBA-Asia World Championship qualifying tournament the county is hosting two months from now.
Twelve players of what remained of the 17-man national training pool chosen three months ago, plus one in lieu of one of four who begged off due to injuries, join Reyes and team manager Butch Antonio in the 22-hour flight the 16-day Klaipeda sojourn where they will attend a training camp and play six goodwill tune up games, two against the Lithuanian national squad, leading to the Asian championship.
They are regular national pool members Larry Fonacier, Jimmy Alapag, Jason Castro and Ranidel de Ocampo, all of Talk ?N Text, Gabe Norwood and Jeff Chan of Rain Or Shine, Mark Pingris of San Mig Coffee, June Mar Fajardo of Petron, and L.A. Tenorio of of Barangay Ginebra, Gary David and Japeth Aguilar of Barako Bull and naturalized player Marcus Douthit.
Beau Belga, also of the Elasto Painters, one of several players who answered the call made by Reyes to at least join the two-week practice sessions prior to departure that ended last Friday, was given the signal to join the trip by the Rain or Shine management, headed by Raymond Yu and Terry Que, will be leaving sometime next week as soon as his travel papers are done with.
The stocky Belga, who admitted he was not even thinking of joining the trip, much more, chosen to become members of the Nationals, have been working out with the national pool along with Arwind Santos and Denok Miranda of the Blaze Boosters and JR Reyes of Meralco.
Belga, who can play at least three positions, will replace Sonny Thoss of Commissioner?s Cup champion Alaska Milk, the last of three other pool members who were stricken off the list due to separate injuries, the others being Kelly Williams, Jared Dillinger and Ryan Reyes, all of the Philippine Cup titlists Tropang Texters.
Amateurs Greg Slaughter and Mitts Ganuelas, both members of the Gilas Cadet team, are also scheduled to follow if the PBA D-League finals will be finished middle of next week.
Reyes? Nationals, who will be playing before home crowd for the first time in 40 years, will be eyeing at least a third place finish to reclaim the Philippines? place in the World Championship they last occupied in 1978 when the country hosted the event. The Philippines also advanced to the world tourney by winning the then Asian Basketball Confederation crown in 1985 but did not participate due to the EDSA Revolution that occurred a year later.
?Well, this is it. At least we?re going to really go into the nitty-gritty of preparations after months of uncertainty due to several problems that confronted us since naming the members of the national training pool,? Reyes said with a sigh of relief after Friday?s workout at The Arena in San Juan City.
?Yes, I think chances are that the official composition of the national team can be decided in this Lithuanian trip,? Reyes said by way of an answer to a query. ?Depending, of course, on how the players will respond to the tough training regimen in the camp and their performance in the six-game tune up series.?
?Should we fail to finalize the lineup, at least we will be achieving many things in this trip like bonding and camaraderie among us. I also hope to attain the team chemistry needed as we continue preparing in the following two months until the FIBA-Asia comes around,? Reyes said.
The Filipinos start attending the Lithuania camp two days after their arrival in Klaipeda on June 4. A day later, they plunge into action against commercial squads Klaipedos Neptunas at the Svyturio Arena.
They next oppose Kaunas LSU Baltai on June 7 and Birstono Jazz Diremta on June 9.
The Lithuanian Under-20 Nationals then take their turn to test Gilas-Pilipinas? mettle on June 11 and 13 before ending their tune up series on June 15 in a return match with Kaunas LSU Baltai before flying home the following day.
In between the goodwill series are twice-a-day daily working session mornings and evenings.
Reyes praised the boys for attending the two-week training sessions and the sacrifices they will undergo in the next two months of preparations.
?This trip will be hard for us, especially you, who will be sacrificing your time that you would?ve otherwise spend with your family. And your efforts to help the national cause,? he said. ?There is no rewards for this in terms of material things. But the experience and additional knowledge you stand to gain as far as your playing abilities are concerned would be enormous.?
Antonio for his part, urged the boys to focus on this and the next phase of the training schedule, including another trip to Japan to play its national team as well as another tournament the team will took part in as replacement for their aborted participation in the Jones Cup in Taipei.
?Marami pag hirap ang dadanasin ninyo (There are still many sacrifices you have to undergo) leading to the FIBA-Asia. But just remember that you are doing all these for our country,? Antonio told the boys, who before dispersing took part in a mid-court shooting contest won by Tenorio who pocketed the P1,000 courtesy of the team manager.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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