Wondering why Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle were missing during Gilas Pilipinas’ first day of training Monday night at the Meralco Gym in Ortigas, Pasig City?
No less than Gilas Pilipinas head coach Yeng Guiao shed light on their absences, citing valid reasons from his trusted, resident national team players, whom he has worked with since in the Asian Games last August.
According to Guiao, Pringle is currently in the United States and will be back on Thursday, while Standhardinger is suffering from a bum stomach.
“Si Stanley Pringle, nasa US. Babalik na sa Thursday. Si Christian may sakit, nagta-tae,” said Guiao after their two-hour practice session.
Standhardinger was in attendance during San Beda’s title-clinching win over Lyceum over at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Standhardinger and Pringle were two of the eight players who were not able to attend the start of the national team’s training camp for their upcoming matches against Kazakhstan on November 30 and Iran on December 3.
The other cagers in absence were Magnolia’s Paul Lee and Ian Sangalang, alongside Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson, LA Tenorio and Greg Slaughter. Guiao excused them owing to the coinciding Game 2 of their 2018 PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Despite the absence of these players, Guiao is not worried about whipping his newly-built team into one cohesive unit come game time.
“It’s still very early but I don’t think I’ll be having problems in terms of chemistry and cohesion. Yung leftover chemistry namin from the fourth window last September and the Asian Games is still there,” Guiao said.
“The new guys coming in are very absorptive. They’re very quick to make adjustments. I know they’re coming from different systems and different styles but the system is very simple, so madali sa kanila mag-adjust even on just the first day.”
Guiao also said that the team has the patience to wait for the remaining players to complete the training camp hopefully next week, when the PBA semis is expected to end.
“Of course, I would have wanted that we were complete today but yun nga, we’re losing six guys to the teams that are still playing in the semi-finals,” he added.
“We just have to be patient.”
Gilas resumes practice on Wednesday and Friday before a stretch of daily practices starting next week. Also helping the squad’s build-up are big tune-up matches against Jordan on November 19 and 21, and Lebanon on November 23 and 25.
