Learning experience

THIS should be fun and a learning experience for the kids whose age range from nine to 12 in making this trip to Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia to pit skills against their Southeast Asian counterparts in a pair of basketball tournaments from May 23-30.

“The kids will find the week-long trip enjoyable as much as another group did a year ago when we initially sojourned to Kuala Lumpur and won a tournament there,” said Domeng Unson, a coach who once assisted the legendary coach Loreto Tolentino with the University of Manila Hawks and Philippine Christian University Dolphins and is now with the University of the East Red Warriors in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

Added Unson, who put the tour together in sending the kids from his Coach E Elite Basketball Camp to Malaysia: “The boys will have a golden opportunity to foster camaraderie and friendship with their Malaysian counterparts. The cultural experience will be immensely valuable for these young kids. Winning basketball games there will be fine but showing sportsmanship is still our primary goal.”

The basketball tournament is being organized by long-time Filipino bench tactician Joselito Rafael (Lito) Vergara, who once handled the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons in the UAAP and essayed high-school ball at Xavier School, where in a three-year stint (2007-09) he steered the Golden Stallions to a pair of Tiong Lian titles in 2008 – built around newly-minted Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Most Valuable Player Gabriel Banal and Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) veteran Jeric Teng and in 2009 – behind Jeric and younger brother and now-Alaska Ace Jeron Teng, former Barangay Ginebra Gin King Jose Anton “Jett” Manuel and Harold Benjamin Ng, an incoming member of the Basilan unit in the MPBL who is currently an assistant to Unson in his Coach D Elite camp’s coaching staff.

For their own security, the kids are tagging along their parents, who themselves are graciously helping out not only in the itinerary of their children but also of the entire 74-member delegation.

The Coach D Elite Basketball Camp was set up by Andrew Ong, the owner of the Gong Cha local outlets, seven years ago in partnership in Unson. Since then, Camp participants have mushroomed in different venues in Metro Manila, including one in San Juan and another in Binondo.

There is groundswell support for the Coach D Elite Camp, which seeks to uplift youth basketball at the grassroots level. In addition to Gong Cha, the camp is more than thankful to the generous people behind Microsmith Technology Systems Inc., Davies Paint, Megapower Industrial Mill Supply, AXA, Tes Advertising Agency, Commodore Maritime Solutions, Octagon Tires and Accessories, M-Drive Auto Refinisher, Concepts and A Mesina Metal Craft.

Now, the names of the 19 kids that have been broken down into two teams for the Under-12 tournament in Malaysia (in order of age) are: Marcus Gabriel Ong (9), Shaun Andre Co (9), Aidan Yicheng Nai (9), Jet Leong (10), Evo Santiago (10), Simon Aiken Co (10), Jeff Kramer Sy (11), Shaun Jordan Haw (11), William Max Fredrik Cheng (11), Hans Davidson Go (11), Raymond Allen Te (11), Drake Marcus Yaomuntek (11), Timothy Lim (11), Rich Mathieu Tong (12), Kimmon Sebastian Yeung (12), Sean Garcia (12), Harold Denziel Dee (12), Heintnier Tan (12) and Andrew Bryan Choa (12).

Choa, who just turned 12 two weeks ago, stands 5-foot-7 and owns a shoe size of 14 – just one inch smaller than the shoe size of Philippine National Youth teamer Kai Sotto. Choa is a member of an age-group team at Xavier School.

Most members of the delegation from the Coach D Elite Camp will head to Kuala Lumpur on May 22 while some will leave the following day.