SEAOIL Elite finals starts today

Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Renauld

“Sonny” Barrios will be the special guest when SEAOIL Elite League

national finals kicks off today at the West Negros University Gym in

Bacolod City.



The opening ceremony is set at 1:30 pm but games will start as early

as 8:30 am in the three-day event is sponsored by SEAOIL Philippines,

Burlington, Freego Jeans and Molten under the SBP.



Barrios earlier cited the gains of the grassroots program that aims to

come up with a wholistic approach in identifying, preparing and

developing young players for youth national teams and eve for varsity

leagues.



Cage powerhouses Cebu, Davao and Bacolod are early favorites although

it is a toss-up among all 16 teams composed of two from South Luzon,

three from North Luzon, six from Visayas and five from Mindanao. The

top two teams after the one round elimination will to the finals for a

winner-take-all match.



“It will be a very interesting tournament as these teams represent the

best for their regions and for the 14-16 years old age category. If

they do well, these players may be future stars of Philippine

basketball,”said Altamirano, hose said that the players and the

coaches were trained using a unique module exclusive only to the

league.



The teams are as follows: South Luzon (San Mig Coffee Cavite and B-Meg

Lucena), North Luzon (Magnolia Fresh Chicken Bulacan, Magnolia Ice

Cream La Union, Star Margarine Olongapo), Visayas (Star Margarine

Dumaguete, Purefoods TJ Cebu and Bacolod, San Mig Coffee Bacolod,

Magnolia Ice Cream Iloilo and B-MEG Ormoc) and Mindanao (Star

Margarine Zamboanga, Magnolia Ice Cream Gen San, Purefoods TJ Davao,

Monterey Meatshop CDO and San Mig Coffee Iligan).



Petroleum company SEAOIL Philippines is the chief backer of SEAOIL

Elite League, also known as the National Basketball Training Center

(NBTC) Elite League or NBTC Elite League, composed of 168 teams made

up of 3,024 players and 336 coaches.PR

Talents abound in Nokia NBTC D-League

Extensive talent identification camps were conducted by the organizers to help participating teams determine the players who will join their rosters in the ongoing Nokia National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) D-League.

Nokia NBTC D-League director Eric Altamirano and training director Alex Compton said they were impressed by the player turnout that the 18-and-under league, under the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP) headed by Manny Pangilinan and executive director Noli Eala, had to increase its roster to 108 teams this year.

“Basketball talents abound the country and these players are usually diamonds-in-the rough who need training and a competitive environment to improve on their skills. That’s why we increased the number of teams this year,”said Altamirano and Compton on the league primarily backed by Nokia Philippines and TAO Corporation with San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Smart Communications and Burlington as major sponsors.

Altamirano said the league is blessed to have so many players willing to try out for spots, that the competition becomes very intense.”The good thing about these talent identification camps is that these give an objective view on what players the teams need and which ones would fit the program for the long term.”

Talent identification camps or TICs were already held in La Union, Cavite (Dasmarinas, General Trias and Bacoor), Laguna (Calamba), Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Leyte (Ormoc and Tacloban), Davao, Cebu, General Santos, Iloilo, Bacolod, Bohol, Zamboanga, Dumaguete and Butuan.

Altamirano said they expect the total participants in these TICs in 32 areas to reach 5,760. He said that 180 players from each area broken down into those born in 1992 (60), 1993 (60) and 1994 (60) have joined these TICs.

“Although we increased the number of teams, we might not have enough slots for everybody in the Nokia D-League, said Altamirano.”But this is always in keeping up with our aim to be the feeder program for higher leagues in the future.”

Altamirano is referring to leagues like the NCAA, UAAP, Philippine Basketball League (PBL), Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Liga Pilipinas and future national teams.

Youth basketball tryouts on Saturday

The much-awaited tryouts for the National Basketball Training Center gets going on Saturday, January 12, at the Ateneo de Davao University Sports Complex in Matina.
NBTC Davao Commissioner lawyer Manny Nitorreda said the tryouts will be personally handled by NBTC Program Director Eric Altamirano, the former PBA coach, and Alex Compton.
First session starts at 7:30 a.m. for the 14 to 15 years old participants while the second session is from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. for 16 to 17 years old cagers.
Nitorreda said a maximum of 40 players from each age bracket will be selected to undergo training in Davao City once a week until they cover the 60 hours on individual skills and a minimum of 40 hours on team concepts for a period of one year.
The players who make it to the regular training program can be considered for membership in the national youth teams.

Coaches eye young cagers for national team on Jan.12

The tryouts for the National Basketball Training Center will proceed as scheduled on January 12 at the Ateneo de Davao Sports Complex in Matina.

The tryouts will be fore boys 14 to 17 years old and will be conducted by NBTC Program Director Eric Altamirano, assisted by former MBA and PBA standout Alex Compton.

The tryouts will have two sessions. The first session will be from 7:30 a.m. to 12 noon for the 14 to 15 years old participants and 12:30 p.m. to 5 pm. for the 16 to 17 years old players.

The NBTC will select a maximum of 40 players from each age bracket who will undergo training in Davao City once a week until they cover 60 hours on individual skills based on their position and minimum of 40 hours on team concepts for a period of one year.

Those who make it to the regular training program can be considered for the national teams that will be formed especially for the 2010 Junior Olympics.

Interested players can submit their names to Atty.Manny Nitorreda at the second floor of Merco Building, corner of Rizal and Bolton Streets in Davao City.