Gilas women to stir up local talent with widespread scouting, recruitment
MANILA, Philippines — The Gilas Pilipinas women's team is looking to beef up its pool of local candidates for the national team program as the COVID-19 pandemic eases its vice on grassroots basketball.
Having been forced to lean heavily on Fil-Foreign talents after the health crisis more or less put women's basketball on the nuclear level on hold, national team head coach and program director Pat Aquino is hoping to be able to pick up the pieces.
After going to the US to scout Fil-Am hoopers to make up most of the national team in recent competitions, the decorated mentor will attempt to tip the scales once again as the effect of the pandemic starts to curb.
"There's a lot of talents, pero it's not as high as expected because of two years of no basketball. Ngayon na lang ulit sila [naglalaro]. We're hoping with what we're doing right now, makakakuha tayo in the near future," Aquino told Philstar.com.
Aquino had recently done tryouts in various areas for new prospects to energize the promising women's program who had won back-to-back gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games.
With the pandemic serving as a handicap, Aquino said that he continues to be optimistic of an uptick in the skills of local talents.
Of note that some of the biggest names in Gilas women history, like Allana Lim, Jack Animam, Janine Pontejos, Afril Bernardino, Khate Castillo, among others, were all talents developed locally.
With that in mind, Aquino cited plans to scout for talent across the country -- particularly in Cebu and Davao where he sees a lot of promise.
"I'll really be going around for this para lang makakita tayo ng talent and for a fact, hindi naman pag nakita mo talent agad, yung iba, may kanya kanyang stage yan eh," said Aquino.
"The good thing sa mga pinupuntahan nating lugar like Cebu, they have leagues already, they will be giving up details on who will be the next, who will be the top calibre, especially in Davao, also."
Though still some ways away from the historical success of their male counterparts, the Gilas women have made promising strides with the sustainability of their program and stimulating local talent, will continue to push it in the right direction.
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