Coaches’ webinar starts tonight

Former ABL Coach of the Year and now Blackwater sports director Ariel Vanguardia is rolling out a can’t-miss, two-part web seminar featuring top foreign coaches at 6 tonight and it’s free for anyone who wants to join the zoom conference. Vanguardia, who was once Phoenix head coach and acting TNT head coach in the PBA, made his mark in the ABL where he led the Westports Malaysia Dragons to the championship in 2015.

To hook up to the zoom conference, the ID password is 044228. The webinar will also be available at Hoop Coaches International on Facebook, Instagram Live and Twitter, Ariel Vanguardia on Facebook and @coachav on Instagram Live and Twitter. Tonight’s session starts off with Greek league player development coach Mike Kalavros at 6 then Florida Gulf Coast University assistant coach Joey Cantens at 7:45 p.m., former TNT coach and now Indiana Pacers assistant coach Bill Bayno at 9:30 p.m. and Angola head coach Will Voight at 11:30 p.m. On Sunday, Vanguardia has lined up three speakers –Poland head coach Mike Taylor at 6 p.m., NBA G-League Erie Bayhawks head coach Ryan Pannone at 8 p.m. and University of North Carolina at Charlotte assistant coach Aaron Fearne at 10 p.m. Vanguardia and sports psychologist Dr. Tedi Villasor will be the moderators for both sessions. I will pitch in as third moderator for the first session.

“This is the first-ever free coaches webinar in the country,” said Vanguardia who used to coach JRU in the NCAA. “Coaches from Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand will join. We’ve informed Louie Gonzales of BCAP, Jong Uichico of the SBP Coaches Commission, Allen Ricardo of Got Skills and other chat groups about the sessions and we’re all excited to listen to our speakers. We’ll also get a chance to interact with our guests so it’ll be quite a learning experience to pick the brains of some of the world’s best coaches.”

The topics for each coach are: Player development (Kalavros), Game Situation Skill Development (Cantens), Coaching Philosophy (Bayno), Peel Switch Defense (Voight), Building Team Culture Through Positive Coaching (Taylor), 3-2 Ballscreen Motion Offense and the Euro Game (Pannone), Early Transition Offense and Into Flow Options and Counters (Fearne).

Bayno and Voight are easily the most recognizable names to Filipino basketball fans. Bayno once coached TNT in the PBA and was an assistant coach with Portland, Minnesota and Toronto before joining the Pacers in 2016. He was the University of Nevada at Las Vegas head coach when TNT coaching consultant Mark Dickel led the NCAA in assists. In the webinar, Bayno will relate his journey from the NCAA to the PBA to the NBA and explain how the game has changed in the NBA. Voight coached Angola to an 84-81 overtime win over the Philippines at the FIBA World Cup in Foshan, China, last year. He was an intern with the Los Angeles Clippers and video coordinator with the San Antonio Spurs before taking over the Bakersfield Jam helm in the NBA D-League (now NBA G-League). Voight coached the Nigerian and Angolan national teams and calls the shots for Telekom Baskets Bonn in the German league. He has applied for the Gilas head coaching position.