SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Not even a legend like LA Tenorio was spared from a roller-coaster of emotions in his Gilas Pilipinas Youth head coaching debut.
In the end, he managed to turn an early timeout down 4-13 into a staggering 51-point blowout of Vietnam, 113-62, on opening day of the FIBA U16 Asia Cup SEABA Qualifiers.
READ: LA sighs relief after turning around slow start in coaching debut
Tenorio, 40, described his first act as shot-caller as a ‘sigh of relief,’ a ‘thorn taken off his chest,’ and one that could still be better as more games go by.
But as is the case in upholding winning cultures such as the Philippines' national youth team program, it takes an army to consistently get the job done.
In moments such as the nationals’ sluggish three-minute start in the opener, Tenorio had the likes of Barangay Ginebra deputy Richard del Rosario, former Gilas teammate Gabe Norwood, and Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) program director and team manager Alfrancis Chua to back him up from the sidelines.
With Chua in particular, who is also a fixture on the sidelines during Ginebra’s PBA games as team governor, quite a bit of Tenorio’s nerves were eased.
As he put it, “They [coaching staff] wanted me to focus on Vietnam. Ayaw nila na marami akong iniisip."
“Kaya with the help of my staff and boss Al, who's always been reminding me just to keep calm, ok lang ‘yan, mga bata ‘yan, they will follow, malaking bagay sa’kin ‘yun as a young coach. I’m still learning, just like the boys that I’m coaching.”
Humble and grounded, as always
Among the many things he’s learned as part of the Ginebra stable all these years which he seeks to impart to the young nationals are humility and respect for the game.
“We cannot be satisfied with the things that we did today na going into tomorrow's game, feeling namin magagaling na kami, na ok lahat ng ginagawa namin. Hindi ganun,” Tenorio said.
“I want to remind the players, I want the boys to realize that what we did today is not really good enough to play against Thailand in the next game. ‘Yun din ‘yung gusto kong iparating.”
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