When Gilas Pilipinas booster Manny V. Pangilinan walked in the Meralco Gym to watch the last session of the National Team pool for the 2017 SEABA Championship, he was in awe of the collection of talent inside his gym. Yet the 70-year-old mogul felt odd not seeing the usual faces that had composed Gilas.
“It’s a much younger team, new faces, which is good,” commented the chairman emeritus of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas. “Actually, most of them came from the Gilas cadet pool. It’s refreshing to see them.
“In a way naninibago ako kasi yung national team nun, nandoon si Jimmy [Alapag], si Ranidel [de Ocampo], si Gary David, and sila Larry Fonacier, etc.”
But from what he has heard, the attendance of the pool has been excellent for the past 15 practices. Even if the players had to attend practices and games for their club teams, this batch of Gilas still actively participated in the drills and the scrimmages.
For the sacrifices that they are continuing to make, the sports patron remains grateful to both the players and the PBA for fully supporting this cause.
“Malaking sakripisyo sa kanila ‘to, alam namin ‘yun kasi they are still playing in the PBA tapos the are practicing for Gilas,” the Managing Director and CEO of First Pacific Company Limited shared.
“Malaking pasasalamat namin sa kanila sa sakripisyong binibigay nila at pagmamahal and we appreciate that. we would like to thank the PBA for their cooperation.
“We are doing our best in providing the Gilas team with the resources for them to be the best that they can be,” he declared.
With the mutual understanding between the PBA and the SBP, all of the practices were fluid. And MVP hopes that they bring about a positive result in the 2017 SEABA Championships, as a loss will result in all of this going to naught.
“If we don’t qualify sa SEABA and not qualify for the FIBA Asia, ma-di-disappoint ang ating mga kababayan,” Pangilinan admitted.
“We have to win kaya we made the decision to get [Andray] Blatche in. Parang insurance na rin yun kasi mahirap na mabatikos na we can send the best but we didn’t.”.
