Gilas youth players relish lessons from Basketball Without Borders Asia stint
MANILA, Philippines — Five young Filipino ballers have recently enriched their basketball and life skills with the help of FIBA and the NBA with their experience in the Basketball Without Borders Asia camp in Australia last week.
Caelum Harris, Jared Bahay, Camille Nolasco, LA John Andres and Quinn Kacey Dela Rosa were all exposed to invaluable experiences led by NBA, WNBA players and coaches that enriched their on-court and off-court skills.
Having spent a four-day camp with their fellow standout hoopers in Asia, Harris, Bahay and Nolasco — who are all members of Gilas Pilipinas youth teams — shared their thoughts on the prestigious camp.
Harris raved about being able to rub shoulders with his fellow young stars. He even called the experience one of the best in his young career.
"This is probably one of the best experiences that I had in a long time, just being able to come over and you know, meeting people from different backgrounds, meeting people that I played against in the Asia Cup," Harris said in an interview with Philstar.com.
He also relished being able to get to know his fellow campers.
"I would say probably the most memorable thing was when we all went on the nature scavenger, just because, it was a time for us to actually get to know each other outside of the court and kind of get to know each other's backgrounds and how we all came up," he added.
Meanwhile, Nolasco, who is also an alumna of the Jr. NBA, gave credit to the league for continuously working for the development of youth players, not just in the US but also all over the world.
"Sobrang laki po ng part ng NBA, 'di lang sa journey ko sa basketball, kundi sa lahat ng mga bata. Kasi ever since 10 pa lang ako, kasama na ako sa Jr. NBA eh and 17 na po ako. It's nice lang po na hanggang sa nag-improve po ako nang nag-improve, may mga program pa rin po sila," she said.
Bahay, on the other hand, said that he was looking forward to sharing what he learned with his fellow Filipinos once he reports back for national team duty.
"This experience na we had dito sa Australia, being coached by NBA players, NBA coaches, FIBA guys, parang nakuha namin yung mga ibang mga teamamtes natin sa youth team," said Bahay.
"'Di nila naexperience so dadalin ko sa team namin na kung ano yung nakuha ko dito na wala duon, iaapply ko dun para makatulong rin ako sa team namin," he added.
Bahay was named an All-Star in the event along with Dela Rosa.
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