MANILA, Philippines — Young Filipina hoopers are set to take center stage in the return of the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC)'s hostilities after a three-year hiatus due the COVID-19 pandemic.
This, as for the first time ever, a girls high school tournament is set to happen alongside the NBTC National Finals and All-Star Game from March 15 to 19 primarily set at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Dubbed as Smart-NBTC Girls Have Next powered by Fil-Nation Select, eight high school girls teams from all-around the country will compete in a pocket tournament with champion PBA 3x3 coach Mau Belen as tournament director.
As the tournament will showcase the young girls' talents, Belen is optimistic that it will pave the way for more opportunities for girls to play basketball.
Belen herself has heard of many struggles for high schools to set up a program for girls' basketball. With an avenue like the NBTC, Girls Have Next will look to prove a point.
"I want to knock to the hearts of the schools. Kasi nabalitaan ko sa WNCAA hirap na hirap sila magcollect ng teams. The schools are, I don't know if that's the right term, are not investing in putting up a team — especially a girls' team, you know? They're not working hard on recruiting, or asking girls from the school to play basketball. If they don't like it, then we don't have a girls team," Belen told Philstar.com during the NBTC National Finals pre-tournament press conference last Thursday.
"So I'm knocking on their doors, knocking on their hearts to give chance to these girls. Baka hindi pa lang nila narerealize na gusto pala nila magbasketball. But if you give them an avenue to play, that hey, we have basketball team maybe you can try basketball and who knows? Maybe you'll like it, you'll love it, diba? So, these are the things that we want to show," she added.
A national audience for women hoopers
The eight teams feature three provincial squads, one from Aklan and two from Santa Rosa, Laguna. Belen said that if the squads are able to show their wares, it might spark inspiration in the others to put up their own teams.
With more opportunities for young girls to play, women's basketball in the country gets to replenish its talent pool easily.
"I mean, imagine, yung three schools from provincial, Aklan, dalawa from Santa Rosa, if they can build a team, why not from the schools from Las Piñas, why not the schools from Muntinlupa, why not the schools from San Pedro? From other parts of the country," said Belen.
"And if we have more teams, then more girls can play. Then if more girls can play, then the next generation is secured for us."
The girls are set to get the most attention on March 19, when its finals is played alongside the Division 1 and Division 2 finals of the boys division, and the NBTC All-Star Game.
Not wanting to steal any spotlight from their male counterparts, Belen said they simply want to be able to draw attention to what young girls can do on their own end.
"Well, we are trying as much as we can not to compete with the boys. Yun talaga yung goal is not to compete with the boys. Boys will be boys. They've also worked hard to reach this point in their you know, the stardom that they have, the attention that they get from people," said Belen.
Like the boys' games that day, Girls Have Next will be available for streaming on mutliple Facebook pages — Puso Pilipinas, NBTC, and Smart Sports. People across the country will be able to witness the inaugural tournament.
"I know hindi ako ipapahiya ng mga teams na in-invite namin, to put up a good game and especially to make sure na yung mga oras na nandito sila sa MOA habang naglalaro, eh they will treasure and [is] something na maalala nila for the rest of their life. So malaking bagay makita kami sa livestream, sa Puso Pilipinas, sa NBTC, sa Smart Sports. You see girls playing, at the age of 15, 16, 17, 18, 19... Malaking bagay yun," she said.
"That's a Sunday morning, a lot of people can have the time to you know, look at it and hopefully, di man lahat, but probably one percent of the population na manood nung time na yun, makarealize ng dream na gusto rin nila magbasketball player."
Girls Have Next will commence at Pretty Huge in SM Aura for its elimination games on March 15 to 17. They are then set for a one-day rest before playing the finals at MOA Arena on March 19.
Fans can catch girls action at Pretty Huge for free. Meanwhile, games in the boys' division for a minimal fee at the MOA Arena.