Philippines Basketball

Philippines basketball abounds with opportunity. We recently received the following e-mail and have decided to add this content to our site in hopes of helping prospective players find jobs in the Philippines.

Eric Altamirano, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) Program Head of the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) and the Head Coach of the Philippine U16 National Youth Team for Boys, has issued a call to Filipino basketball players based in the Philippines or overseas may they be Full-blooded Filipinos or Mestizos (Half-Filipino and Half-Foreign blooded) who might want to become members of future Philippine basketball teams.

Coach Eric Altamirano is looking for Tall but versatile players with sound fundamentals, quickness and good outside shooting. The team will compete in a series of international competitions serving as a run-up to the FIBA-Asia 16 Under tournament and undergo training at the state-of-the-artAustralian Institute of Sport.

Although the priority is always for local-bred players from the provinces, the NBTC is also opening the doors to Filipinos who took up residence in other countries, particularly the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Europe, Africa and Australia.

Coach Eric indicated there is an urgency to find the following 2 type of players for NBTC:

A very tall foreign player (6’10 and above) who is willing to become a Naturalized Filipino. Said player should have been born on 1993 or much later. Said player should have the makings of a Bill Russell kind of a player.

A Filipino or Fil-Foreign player that’s a very good point guard. He should also be born 1993 or much later. Said player is someone who plays more maturely than his actual age. Both players should be able to easily adopt to the way the International Game is played.

We are also looking for Fil-foreign players who are consistent outside shooters from mid-range upto beyond the 3-point line.

Philippines Basketball really needs tall players who can play inside, rebound and run the floor as the program is taken on an international context. We also need younger players (boys and girls) within the 10 to 19 age requirement of the NBTC program.

If there are other Filipino or Fil-foreign kids that are based locally or overseas and have considerable talent in basketball, your recommendations are most welcomed.

If you are in the know of such players as stated above, you can contact Coach Eric at his email address:altamiranohoops@yahoo.com.

For our Men’s Philippines Basketball National Team, we are looking for one or two tall foreign player(s), preferably standing around 7 feet. The foreign player will then be asked to undergo naturalization to become a Filipino citizen. We are looking for a player who can “match up with the best of Asia’s seven-footers.”

He is pictured as a hardworking rebounder, an intimidating shot-blocker plus can be depended on to score on the low post if needed and when double-teamed has an eye for an open team mate then make an accurate pass.

The long-term program of the Men’s National Team is also looking for 20-, 25-, 30-year old half-Filipinos who are tall in height and are extremely talented and athletic basketball players.

Do email prospective players for the Men’s Team to the SBP Executive Director Noli Eala. His email address isn_eala@yahoo.com.

There is also a revival of the country’s women’s Philippines basketball league whose objective is to elevate the level of women’s basketball and make it competitive in the Southeast Asian Games and eventually, in the Asian Games. This league is a venue for aspiring lady players and a launch pad for our campaign to win internationally.

Filipina and Fil-Foreign players from abroad are very much welcome to play in the league. The league will allow players 28 years old and below to play. Those who want to try-out can communicate with Women’s Philippines Basketball League via email:(Attention:PBL Commissioner Chino Trinidad) chino3nidad@pbl.org.ph

Do note all foreign players who had played previously in their National Team at any level are already disqualified from being naturalized so they would no longer be entertained. And Naturalized Filipinos are needed to renounce their present citizenship(s) and are not allowed to have dual-citizenships.

By the way to avoid citizenship complications on Fil-foreign players, it’s more prudent that at least one of his or her parents was still a Filipino Citizen at the time of birth of said player.

Please note this is a serious search and kindly make sure of the quality of play of your recommendees are really worth considering as Philippines Basketball National Team Players. Again, if ever you found the kind of basketball players we are looking for, do email directly to the PBL, Coach Altimirano and/or Mr. Eala, just advise them that Mr. Nardy contacted you and am referring you to them.

Do send personal biodata with contact information/references, basketball profile including official career statistics and photos of the players you are recommending plus any available videos (online link or file attachment) of their games.

If you have other questions, they are the above personalities are the right people to give you the answers.

SBP USA regional director Caloy Allado, for his part, would also like to inform that there is a Filipino-American Campto be held in the US to search for probable Philippines Basketball national team players.

We are staging this Fil-Am All-Star camp scheduled sometime in April 2009 to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. We will be having two categories:

a. Senior Level (19-26 yrs old with college ball experience)

b. Junior Level (15-18 yrs old with high school ball experience)

The final number of teams will be determined on the number of players that will be nominated.

The purpose of the Fil-Am camp is to identify potential members for the Philippine national team that will compete in the Asian Games in 2010, Qualifying Tournament leading to 2012 London Olympics and other international tournaments in the next four years. The national coach and his staff will be present in the camp.

We would appreciate your assistance in spreading the news to your members/players and hopefully you could nominate players to this camp.

For further information, please call or email:

Caloy Allado
USA Regional Director, BAP-SBP
13103 Barbara Ann St. Ste 23
North Hollywood CA 91605-4612
Cellphone No.: +1 (818) 387-5576 or +1 (818) 764-6112
Email: hallado@aol.com

Thank you so much and Good luck to us all.

In behalf of the Philippines basketball and the Philippines our sincerest gratitude.

Mabuhay ang TEAM PILIPINAS !!!!

You can visit the website of the

Philippines’ National Basketball Federation Here