Coaching the coaches
Things are looking up for the Cebu basketball coaches community. They may handle different teams, have different philosophies and systems and may not even like each other. But one thing certain is that they’re all willing to learn and grow as coaches. This was a most welcome conclusion when we gathered 170 coaches at the SBP Coaches Accreditation and Workshop that started yesterday and ends today at the PAREF Springdale Gym. Never before have we been able to gather this many coaches in one venue (as far as I can recall as an organizer of sports events). The roster is a complete spread of the alphabet of teams and clubs. Gathered here are coaches are coming from public schools, private schools, the more “advanced” CESAFI schools, private companies, barangay teams and basketball clubs. The roster is a complete spread of the alphabet of leagues, teams and clubs.
The lead facilitator and brains behind the workshop is multi-titled coach Jong Uichico who now heads the SBP Coaches’ Commission and who is now embarking on his advocacy of training coaches especially in the grassroots level. He is assisted by Mark Solano (SBP 3X3 Program Director) and Cebuano Ryan Betia (Gilas Pilipinas and FEU). The main objective of this nationwide program is simple: Train the coaches so they can in turn teach and coach effectively. They become better coaches. Funny but what started out as a simple chat and coaches get together a few years ago has now bloomed into a full program. When Coach Jong was still with Ginebra, he made it a point to contact us and ask if we could get coaches together for informal chats. We then gathered around a dozen coaches at the Insular Square for a simple classroom type get together and a meal where he shared his thoughts on basketball concepts that the Cebu coaches wanted to discuss. It wasn’t that long of a “workshop” but we all came out of that meeting grateful for the opportunity to learn from one of the brightest minds of basketball. The big question then was when can have something like this again. It came longer than expected, but one thing is certain. It’s finally here. The SBP Coaches’ Commission has now embarked on a nationwide program to train coaches, visiting different regions since March. The program is set to end around November and will make another series of visits next year.
Basketball isn’t all about brute force, physicality and talent. It’s a game that has to be studied, learned and taught before it can be played well. And there’s nothing more important than training the coaches who are responsible with teaching the young players how to play the sport. The irony of it all is that the country has thousands of coaches who “coach” basketball teams even in the smallest barangay leagues. Their source of knowledge of the game though, is from watching games of the NBA, PBA, UAAP and other leagues on TV. Their other source of training is their experience as basketball players during their younger days where they learned from coaches whose source of training might have been more inferior due to the absence of technology (no TV and formal workshops). Today’s coaches who are resourceful and hungry for knowledge resort to youtube, websites, online clinics and books. They also attend basketball workshops that are conducted by popular coaches, but these are held in Manila.
Coach Jong stressed the need to go to the different regions to train coaches. “Coaches in the provinces don’t have the resources to travel to Manila to attend clinics. Only those with money can do that. But how many are they?” he asked. And so the SBP Coaches’ Commission program for training was born. And the Central Visayas has proven that when an opportunity like this is there, the coaches will show up and take part.
Coach Jong has a simple yet effective way of training coaches. He told the coaches in attendance, “I will address the players and not you coaches. If the players do it correctly, then I as coach am doing it correctly. If the players don’t do it correctly, then I as coach, am teaching it the wrong way,” he stressed. This is the reality that coaches have to face. They have to teach the sport the right way and no other way. The sad reality is that there are too many coaches who call themselves coaches but who aren’t equipped to coach. With this program, it is our wish that we can slowly but surely develop coaches to teach basketball correctly.
This corner is grateful to all the coaches who made the workshop a success. They came from Maasin, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Bohol and Cebu. It is our dream that all of the coaches learn from the workshop, unite as one coaches’ family and teach their players how to play in the correct way. With coaches now better equipped to coach, we’ll also have young players learning how to play the right way. PAREF Springdale has been a gracious host, along with the event’s partners House of Lechon and breadafterbread. Our event MVP is no other than Batang Gilas team manager Andrew Teh who also works with the Gilas Pilipinas team along with Coaches Jong, Ryan and Mark.
We’re now looking forward to seeing better formed coaches teaching their players and seeing the basketball community become better as one.
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