BANGKOK – Norman Black has achieved a lot in his coaching career, but his brief time in handling Gilas Pilipinas in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games will go down as his biggest crowning achievement.
Faced with the challenge of multiple revisions to the line-up and little preparation for the competition, Black still steered Gilas Pilipinas to the gold medal after beating Thailand, 70-64.
“For me, right now, this is number one because there’s been a lot of adversity,” said Black, one of only four coaches to win the PBA Grand Slam.
READ: Gilas powers past questionable calls en route to SEAG gold medal
For one, Black, who is now a consultant with Meralco in the PBA and San Beda in the NCAA, said he had to deal with the changes in the eligibility rules where it was first believed that the organizers will be implementing FIBA rules only to find out that it was changed to ‘passport-only’ rule which was later changed again with naturalized players disallowed and only locals that got their passports before the age of 16 will be playing.
“You guys just don't understand, I went four months not knowing what the rules were. Not knowing what the eligibility rules were. I formed a team, only to be told I couldn't use that team. And then when I formed another team, I was told I couldn’t use certain players. So I couldn’t really understand the eligibility rules in the tournament,” said Black.
Usually approachable to the media, Black said he even intentionally made himself unavailable to reporters when they ask about the SEA Games roster just so that information about the team wouldn’t make public.
“I know I shut down the media a little bit, and I didn't talk, because every time I would say something, it seemed like the organizing committee would change the rules. So I decided I wasn’t going to mention anything publicly anymore, because they’re using our information against us,” said Black.
Eventually, the team was complete with Ray Parks, Jamie Malonzo, Robert Bolick, Thirdy Ravena, Poy Erram, Dalph Panopio, Abu Tratter, Matthew Wright, Von Pessumal, Justin Chua, Cedrick Manzano, and Veejay Pre.
Gilas Pilipinas was able to overcome the challenges winning four of the only games they played together including the gold medal match.
“I’m glad it turned out for the best,” said the 11-time PBA champion coach.
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