A CHANCE to be part of the Asia team to the Jr. NBA Global Championship is at stake in the 12th year of the Jr. NBA Philippines.
NBA Asia associate vice-president for basketball operations Carlos Barroca said the Jr. NBA Philippines' national training camp will offer an opportunity to be part of the Asia squad in the Jr. NBA Global Championship to be held from August 6 to 11 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Florida.
The Jr. NBA Philippines is partnering with Alaska for the regional camps set March 9 to 10 in Lucena, March 23 to 24 in La Trinidad, Benguet, April 27 to 28 in Makati City, and two more in Visayas and Mindanao respectively.
“This year, we’re going to be all over the place. We’re going to have five (regional selection) camps starting February and we’re going to finish in May. We’re going to be together with the [accredited] Jr. NBA coaches, Alaska, and ourselves,” said Barroca.
“We want to be here. Every time I get off the plane in the Philippines, I breathe basketball. It’s like I’m home. We are basketball organizations so it is our obligation to do more things for the kids and do the right things for them,” Barroca said.
Barroca is glad with the progress of the Jr. NBA program in the country.
“I’ll say that the baby became like a teenager now. It’s a big baby. I don’t think we could do as good [a job] as we are doing and create such a great platform for the kids as we are creating without the amazing, and I say amazing in terms of quantity and quality of work of our partner Alaska,” said Barroca.
Alaska assistant coach Tony Dela Cruz said the company is honored to partner with the Jr. NBA program in the development of basketball in the youth level.
“As far as Alaska, we’re super honored to continue to be partners with the Jr. NBA. We did the math in there and we’ve been partners since 2010. So that would be the 10th but again, I think what’s great about being involved in this program, what I think Alaska is really happy about is how much collaboration takes place each and every year,” Dela Cruz said.