SBP Passerelle Basketball

With the collegiate and high school basketball scene well underway, it’s the turn of the others to get going. And so yesterday, the younger ones took their turn to kick off their basketball season for the school-year 2016-2017. We’re talking about the 31st SBP Passerelle Basketball Tournament backed by Milo which launched its season yesterday at the Magis Eagles Arena of the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu.

To those who aren’t familiar with these age groups, the SBP –which is short for Small Basketeers Philippines- and Passerelle divisions are for players under the age of the high school varsity level. The SBP division is for players in the Under 12, 11 and 10 age groups, while the Passerelle division is for players in the Under 15, 14, and 13 age groups. The Passerelle age group is one age group younger than the juniors level, and is a main source of high school varsity players. All SBP and Passerelle teams are composed of five players each for every age group. This is done to guaranty a smooth transition of teams when the senior players of each team move up. Modified ground rules ensure that all players will see action for at least one quarter as each quarter requires a different set of five players for both teams.

The tournament is nationwide in scope with provincial legs being played in Baguio, Pangasinan, Pampanga, Lucena, Roxas, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Zamboanga, Cebu and Metro Manila. The different provincial champions face each other in a regional finals with the regional champion moving on to the national finals. For the Visayas, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo and Roxas slug it out for the Visayas championship. The Mindanao champion will come from a clash among Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga. The Luzon champion will arise from the champions of Baguio, Pangasinan, Pampanga and Lucena. The Metro Manila champion automatically makes it to the national finals where they face the champions of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. La Salle Greenhills is the defending national SBP champion while Adamson University is the 2015 Passerelle division champ.

The Cebu leg has drawn a total of 13 teams: six in the SBP division and seven in the Passerelle division. Leading the pack are the University of the Visayas, defending champion of the Small Basketeers Philippines (SBP) division and defending Passerelle division champion Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu. Making up the SBP division are UV, USC, SHS-Ateneo de Cebu A, Don Bosco Technology Center, SWU-PHINMA and SHS-Ateneo B. The Passerelle division is made up of SHS-Ateneo, USC, UV, USPF, SWU-PHINMA, DBTCI and rookie team Abellana National School. Abellana joins the league as part of the BEST Center’s outreach assistance program for public schools. SHS-Ateneo, UV, USC and Don Bosco are considered as favorites for the championship of both divisions due to their basketball programs. The games of the Cebu leg will run until October with games played at the SHS-Ateneo de Cebu Mango Avenue campus; and the Visayas Regional Finals will be played in Roxas City November 19 and 20. The National Finals will be held in Bacolod December 3 and 4 later in the year. USC is the winningest team in the history of the SBP Passerelle tournament for Cebu. USC, UV and SHS-Ateneo have each won a national championship in the Passerelle division. The national championship scene has been dominated by Metro Manila teams where all the biggest programs are centered.

The SBP Passerelle tournament sponsored by Milo is organized by the BEST Center Sports, the leading school for basketball in the country that was founded by Coach Nic Jorge, the pioneer in the country in the field of basketball schools. Until now, many still call the program “Milo BEST,” an unofficial name that evolved on its own through the years. The program has developed many of today’s biggest stars who once played and trained with the BEST Center. Among them include Kiefer Ravena, Chris Tiu, Jeron Teng and Kobe Paras. Most of today’s players in the PBA, UAAP, NCAA and CESAFI once played in the SBP Passerelle tournaments when they were in their formative years. The Cebu scene has produced national youth players like Paul Desiderio, Kris Porter, Koko Pingoy, Dave Yu, Jed Colonia, Leonard Santillan and JB Bahio.

If you watch basketball games of the CESAFI, UAAP or NCAA, don’t be surprised to see a lot of talented basketball players. But they didn’t develop their skills overnight. Unknown and unseen by many, all those players toiled hard and were exposed for long years before making it to the collegiate scene. And many of these were at the SBP and Passerelle age groups, a good six years of a player’s basketball life.

Let the SBP and Passerelle games begin.

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Time-out: Happy birthday to Fr. Manny Uy, S.J.