HONG KONG – Five members of Team Cebu which won the inaugural EASL Future Champions event will get the chance to train alongside Kiefer Ravena in Japan next month.
Tournament MVP Kent Labitad along with four members of the Philippine unit earned the extra incentive of joining Ravena and B.League champion Ryukyu Golden Kings in their training camp in Okinawa by the end of August.
READ Coach Garret Kelly gets real on his short stint with Macau
Travelling to Japan along with Labitad are Venz Nadela, Dwayne Rojo, McDome De Asis, and team captain Dereck Wenceslao.
Labitad and Nadela were likewise named to the Mythical Team of the tournament featuring players age 16 and below.
In Japan, they’ll get to learn from the pros, including the 32-year-old Ravena, the former NLEX top guard and retired Gilas Pilipinas stalwart, who was recently signed by the Golden Kings for the coming 2026-27 season of the B.League.
Members of Team Macau which finished runner-up to Cebu, were also rewarded with the same incentive.
“You can only learn so much from the classroom. You got to get out of your comfort zone. Leave Cebu, leave the Philippines, come to Hong Kong, come to Macau, come to mainland China, go to Japan, learn from these other coaches, and learn from these other players,” said Garrett Kelly, former head coach of the Macau Black Knights, who called the shots for Team Macau.
“It’s a great opportunity (learning) from which is maybe the best team from all of Asia,” he added. “This is a great experience for them. Some of them have never boarded a plane before, they’ve never been out of Cebu, was given a chance to see a world-class city in Hong Kong, and just have a great time together and get better.”
Just before leaving Cebu, the quartet of Labitad, Wenceslao, De Asis and Brix Hernando were already offered scholarships by the University of San Jose Recoletos and will be eligible to play for the Baby Jaguars in the Cesafi (Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc).
Team Cebu coach Joel Co was a proud product of the USJR program where he won a championship in the old Cebu Amateur Athletic Association, the predecessor of the Cesafi.
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