Baldwin, Beveridge to grace NBTC National Coaches Convention

MANILA, Philippines – A pair of renowned national team coaches will take center stage during the annual NBTC National Coaches Convention presented by Go for Gold from March 22-24 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Current Ateneo de Manila University and former Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tab Baldwin and former Australian national team coach Rob Beveridge will be the main speakers for the convention. Renowned tactician Nash Racela, Ardy Arbello and Singaporean coach Vincent Ong lead the field of instructors for the convention. 

Every year, the event brings basketball coaches from all over the Philippines to learn from some of the best minds in the game. 

According to NBTC Program Director Eric Altamirano, the event’s ninth edition will find some 1,500-2,000 coaches from 105 cities attending the three-day seminar.

“This is the first time that we are holding the Coaches Convention at the same time as the Chooks to Go NBTC National Finals. We usually hold this event in October but for this year, we wanted the participants to watch the national finals as well,” said Altamirano

Baldwin, who was previously at the helm of the basketball teams of Malaysia, New Zealand, Lebanon and Jordan, most recently led Ateneo to a back-to-back UAAP championship. He also skippered the Philippine national team to a silver medal finish in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championships in Changsa, China, and a gold medal in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.

For his part, Beveridge coached the Australian national team from 1999-2006 and was head coach of the Australian squad that won the U-20 World Championship in 2003. He is also the founding head coach of the New South Wales Institute basketball program. 

Racela, who has coached in the PBA, MBA, NCAA and UAAP, will discuss offensive concepts.

Abello, a John C. Maxwell-certified leadership team coach, will talk about “coaching the next generation.” 

Meanwhile, Ong, who heads Youth Sports Institute in Singapore, will complement that discussion when he touches on the topic, “What makes a great youth coach?”

Go for Gold’s Jeremy Go is ecstatic about participating in the country’s biggest grassroots basketball program. 

“We are happy to partner with NBTC to bring proper basketball knowledge throughout the country because we believe in grassroots development for athletes. We need to start them young so they learn about responsibility and discipline at an early age. And coaches are the key to their development,” he said,

Added Altamirano, “We are happy to also announce that Gatorade is the Official Sports Drink of the NBTC program and the NBTC Coaches Convention presented by Go for Gold. Gatorade will be represented by Dr. George Canlas along with his sports science team to teach the coaches proper hydration techniques that aim to keep athletes hydrated before, during, and after training and games.”