No more national teams

Nobody is going to say it, but we have witnessed the end of national teams as we knew them, not just in basketball, but in other sports, as well. There are no longer any full-time national teams, save for the rare instances when an entire commercial squad (with a couple of additional players) is deployed as a national team. The US started this practice in the very first Olympic basketball tournament in 1936, by combining both teams that fought for the championship in the Olympic trials. Top teams from the US NCAA, American Athletic Union and YMCA joined the selection process.

This phenomenon became prevalent with the rise of the former Soviet Union. Russia essentially annexed several countries, and compelled their athletes to play under the banner of the consolidated USSR. While communist belief did not allow for free economy, many of their athletes were actually competing in professional leagues in basketball, football, hockey and other sports.

Meanwhile, on this side of the world, athletes were either playing commercially or representing their countries. There was no overlap, no in-between. You were either pro and making money, or amateur and not earning. Period. This dichotomy lent significance to hockey’s so-called “Miracle on Ice.” In 1980, a US squad of college students scored a gigantic upset over a team of experienced Soviet pros en route to the gold medal in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

Inevitably, the International Olympic Committee realized that the best athletes in several sports were not amateurs. To expand its market and increase its credibility, the IOC opened up certain sports to include professionals. This movement began in 1986, and in 1988, Steffi Graf won a Grand Slam and Olympic gold medal in tennis.

Just to be clear, it is nobody’s fault, but a natural evolution of sports. You learn something that you hope will be applicable as a trade that will support you in life. For many, sport is it. In the Philippines, it’s most commonly basketball or boxing. We’ve seen the impact not just on those two sports, but also in football, rugby, billiards, chess and other sports. Contractual obligations (most often abroad) preclude athletes from representing the national team. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, it was the other way around. Playing for the national team preventing athletes (basketball players) from fulfilling their obligations to their commercial teams. This was the impelling force behind the formation of the PBA, for example. It was the only way to escape the “forced labor” of serving on an amateur Philippine team. When the USSR scorched an all-amateur US team in the 1988 Olympics, USA Basketball copied tennis, and opened up their national team to NBA pros. The “Dream Team” pooled 11 of the best NBA players and NCAA standout Christian Laettner. The PBA’s version actually predated the Americans by a year and a half, featuring an all-pro squad in the 1990 Asian Games.

Since then, national teams in many sports around the world have essentially been all-star teams slapped together for the occasion. Full-time teams are no longer feasible. There are no regular tournaments for national teams. Events are too far apart. It doesn’t make sense to support a team for an entire year for it to only play a few games. In Europe, majority of teams play in two leagues simultaneously. The convenient solution is to bring together a group of great players for a refresher on past teamwork, and hope that they win. It’s not perfect, but that’s how it is and will be.