TWO BLUE Eagles were among the Filipinos selected to represent Asia in the Adidas Nations Global 2013: Sophomore electronics and communications engineering major Tomas Ramos and freshman interdisciplinary studies major Jerie Pingoy. Both play for the Team B of the Blue Eagles.
According to Slam Online, the event, which was held in Los Angeles, California from August 1 to 5, is an annual basketball camp started by Adidas in 2007. The camp invites basketball players 18 years old and under to represent Africa, Asia Pacific, Canada, China, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Notable graduates from the Adidas Nation program are current National Basketball Association (NBA) players Derrick Rose, Kevin Love and Paul George.
This year marked the first time that an entirely Filipino roster was sent to the camp to represent Asia.
Apart from giving players the opportunity to compete against the best players in their age group, the camp also gives participants courses on nutrition, education, media training and community outreach. Participants are also given tips on how to develop their basketball careers by current and former NBA players.
The highlight of the basketball camp was a tournament that pitted the regional teams against each other. As expected, most of the teams were much taller than the Filipino delegates, but the team was prepared for this. “Our team mainly focused on our strength, which was speed. We wanted to play a very fast paced game. We pushed the ball all the time to get easy baskets when we can,” Ramos explains. The fast-paced offense clearly suited the 5’8” Pingoy, as he lit up the court to a tune of 13 points and a tournament-leading 5 assists per game, according to RealGM.com.
Pingoy was chosen as the delegation’s team captain. Aside from him and Ramos, the roster consisted of team co-captain Jay Javelosa (Reedley International School), Arvin Tolentino (San Beda College), George Isaac Go (Xavier School), Mark Olayon (University of the East), Aldrich Liwag (Arellano University), Mario Bonleon (University of the Santo Tomas), Augus Denila (Far Eastern University), Joshua Dalafu (Faith Academy), Rashleigh Rivero (La Salle Green Hills) and Kimlee Bayquin (Adamson University).
Serving as the coach was Eric Gonzalez, the current head coach of Arellano University’s Team B basketball team as well as the assistant coach of Far Eastern University.
The experience is not the first time the two Blue Eagles have had a taste of international competition. In fact, their past involvement in other national youth teams was a key factor in Coach Gonzalez’s decision to recruit them for the Adidas camp. “Most of us were from former youth teams [U-16 and U-18] while others were former teammates,” Ramos shares.
