NBA trains 1,2000 Dagupan tots
SOME 1,200 children from Dagupan aged 10 to 14 are participating in a two-day basketball clinic that started Saturday at the CSI Stadia under the youth development program of the National Basketball Association (NBA), America’s premier basketball league,
Top coaches led by the NBA Asia Head Coach and Head Coach Sefu Bernard and Alaska team coach Jojo Lastimosa are conducting the clinic which opened with a seminar for local basketball coaches.
Sponsored by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, regional director of the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP), the clinic also aims to select Dagupan’s top youth basketball players who could join the national tryout in Region 1 and in Manila for the selection of the members of the 10-man Junior NBA Philippines team.
The NBA started its Philippine campaign for junior basketball players in 2007, concentrating in the Greater Manila Area.
Aiming to reach a broader number of youth in the Philippines, it extended its scope of training to include the key cities of Dagupan, Lucena and Davao.
Fernandez said the event aims to promote basketball participation, sportsmanship and teamwork among children.
Fernandez said top players from Dagupan, chosen based on their performance in the clinic, will join a tryout in March when NBA returns to conduct a regional basketball clinic.
The 10 players that will comprise the region’s NBA junior team will join 40 others from various parts of the country in another tryout in Manila, which will eventually select the final junior NBA Philippines team, Fernandez said.
The country’s junior NBA team will be brought to the United States for a rare chance to see NBA games live and would have the opportunity of playing with other junior NBA teams all over the world.
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