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Ateneo coach Norman Black gives pointers on Big Man Moves

Last year, your friendly neighborhood Athletic Soul, together with “Be Like” Mike Abasolo organized a coaching clinic for beginners and neophyte coaches called Coach Now. It was a two-day affair held at the Blue Eagle Gym and headlined by such coaching luminaries as Joe Lipa, Norman Black, Ricky Dandan, Bo Perasol, Rico Perez and Jojo Villa, among others.

The clinic attracted over 50 participants from as near as Ateneo De Manila and UP Diliman and far as Oriental Mindoro and Bicol. In fact, the participants who arrived earliest probably traveled the farthest. At around 6:30AM, as we were busy setting up the venue, two men carrying large knapsacks sauntered in, asking where they could register. I informed them that the registration desk would open at 8AM, and the first session wouldn’t start till 9AM. I then asked them what they were doing here at such an early hour.

Turns out they travelled all night from Naga City, where both were high school coaches, arrived at the bus station at 6AM, and, not knowing where else to go, decided to take a cab to the BEG. I really couldn’t think of anything to say except, “want some coffee?” because it certainly looked like they could use some.

Anyway, it also turns out the two were sort of the advance party for a large delegation of Bicol coaches led by coach Noli Ayo of Ateneo De Naga. Seven other Bicolanos arrived later on, joining an assortment of grade school, high school and college coaches, including ex-pro Rommel Daep, and a few others with virtually no coaching experience but who were astute students of the game.

At around 7:30, the participants started trickling in. Although officially we had around 40 or so confirmed enrollees, I was nervous. What if only 20 people showed up? To my pleasant surprise, though, the number swelled past the 50 mark as some walk-ins arrived.

Among the attendees were Leo Balquin, coach of the Divine World College of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, and Eduardo Contante, Jr., coach of Jesus The Loving Shepherd Christian School of Tigaon, Camarines Sur.

Balquin, 33, had to borrow money from a relative for his boat ride to Manila, while Contante, 28, was one of the two Bicolano early birds who travelled eight hours by bus.

Considering what these two men went through just to make it to the clinic, I was relieved that both of them said their trips were worth it. Balquin, whose team competes in the Calapan City Athletic Association, in particular enjoyed Norman Black’s big man moves lecture since he has a six-two player who, in his words, “is not well-oriented”.

Contante, meanwhile, came away learning a lot from Joe Lipa’s lecture on developing your own coaching philosophy and Jojo Villa’s session on coaching defense. “Na-meet naman ang expectations ko,” he said.

Two other participants with no prior coaching experience, Merlin Agcamaran and Santi Edralin, were able to find coaching gigs after attending the seminar, albeit as pro bono part-time assistants. Agcamaran hooked up with Aboy Castro on the UP Fighting Maroons coaching staff, while Edralin is now with Villa’s St. Stephen’s High School team. Even though they’re not getting paid, they’re at least applying what they learned in the seminar. Talk about doing it for love of the game.

The initial clinic was supposed to target beginners, guys like me who have always dreamed of being a coach but lacked the prerequisite playing experience, and in frustration have fashioned out a second career as armchair coaches. My original thought was to help out all those basketball critics who didn’t have any comeback for the retort, “Ikaw kaya ang mag-coach?” The clinic was supposed to at least arm them with basic knowledge so that they would know what they were talking about, and give them a chance, however small, of breaking into the coaching leagues.

In our extensive marketing campaign (read: using Facebook, e-mail blasts and text blasts), we tried as much as possible to position it as such. But in the end, those with actual coaching experience clearly outnumbered those without.

Bearing this in mind, we decided to make this year’s clinic a little more technical and comprehensive. We also decided to add an extra day in order to cover more topics. Whereas last year we had one session that generally covered all offensive patterns (Coaching Offense), this year we broke this down to four different modules (Fastbreak Offense, Dribble Drive Offense, Motion Offense and Small Ball Offense). We’ve even thrown in a separate module on how best to attack different zone defenses.

And based on feedback from last year’s participants, we’re introducing two new modules – FIBA Rules and New Developments in Officiating, to be handled by PBA technical consultant Romy Guevarra; and Sports Medicine to be tackled by noted sports physician Dr. George Canlas.

Many of last year’s lecturers are back: Ricky Dandan, who is also our consultant, Jojo Villa, Rico Perez, Ronnie Dizer, Ed Cordero, Joe Lipa, Bo Perasol and Norman Black. Aside from Guevarra and Canlas, the new faces include Aboy Castro, John Flores, Jamike Jarin and Alfrancis Chua.

Black and Cordero will still lecture on the same topics: big man coaching and shooting drills respectively, although they will introduce new stuff this year. Says Cordero, “I will add shooting drills to improve individual skills and also shooting drills for the team.”

Castro, who will tackle Dribble Drive Offense, will bring along his assistant coach from UP, Josh Reyes, whom he calls their dribble drive expert. Lipa chose his topic – Small Ball – as early as September last year upon seeing the PBA-backed national team limp to an eighth-place finish in the FIBA-Asia qualifiers. “Sidney,” I recall him telling me, “if you’re going to hold your coaching clinic again, I want to talk about how smaller teams can win against taller teams. That’s what Filipino players need to learn if we are to become a force again in Asia.”

Another adjustment we’re making this year: we’re holding all sessions on the basketball court. No more classroom setting where the outside noise was an unwelcome distraction. There will be video-assisted lectures, and for most of the sessions, the participants will be asked to do the drills themselves. So better come in playing attire.

This year’s Coach Now clinic will be held from April 9 to 11, again at the Blue Eagle Gym. The complete seminar program is as follows:

Day 1 Friday April 9
8:00 AM Registration
9:00 AM Ronnie Dizer Drills that will develop specific physical & skill related components
10:30 AM Jamike Jarin Zone Defense & Extended Defenses
1:00 PM Norman Black Big Man Coaching
3:00 PM Dr. George Canlas Sports Medicine
4:30 PM Jojo Villa How To Attack the Different Zone Defenses

Day 2 Saturday April 10
8:00 AM Aboy Castro Teaching & Coaching Dribble Drive Motion Offense
10:00 AM Alfrancis Chua Teaching & Coaching Fastbreak Offense
1:00 PM Bo Perasol The Laws of Teamwork
3:00 PM Romy Guevarra Understanding FIBA Rules & New Developments in Officiating

Day 3 Sunday April 11
8:00 AM John Flores Teaching & Coaching Motion offense
10:00 AM Ricky Dandan Teaching & Coaching Man-on-man Defense
1:00 PM Joe Lipa Teaching & Coaching Small Ball
2:30 PM Ed Cordero New shooting techniques and drills
4:30 PM Rico Perez Perimeter-Post Skills Training

Interested parties may call 403-6796 or text 0922-8185114 or 0922-8262621 or e-mail us at icancoachnow@gmail.com for inquiries, and register online at www.icancoachnow.com. The site also includes information about the course with an extensive write-up on the lecturers to follow soon. The seminar fee is pegged at P5,500.00 inclusive of lunch. Early-bird rate is P4,500.00 good until March 26. And for large groups, get a big discount with a five-for-the-price-of-four package. You may pay at the venue or at Redmedia Solutions, Inc., Unit 301, Evekal Building, 855 A. Arnaiz Ave., Makati. Please make all checks payable to Redmedia Solutions, Inc.

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Coach Ed Cordero lecturing on shooting drills

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