THE cream of the crop of young Filipino-American talents will come together in the first staging of the National Basketball Training Centre (NBTC) Global Games on July 1-3 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
FilAm Sports-USA once sent top talent such as Jalen Green, now playing for the Houston Rockets in the NBA, as well as NCAA Division 1 champion Kihei Clark to the Philippines to compete in the national championship for high school.
This time, the NBTC organized its own nationwide qualifiers, which will send the two best teams to the Global Games Championships scheduled for 2023, also set to be held in the United States.
The Global Games was an initiative forwarded by NBTC’s local and international organizers to solve logistical problems caused by the pandemic. Aside from the US, qualifiers will also be held in Australia, Canada, Dubai, Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines.
“This is a very good development for the NBTC, as this sets up a bigger stage for Filipino players to show what they got,” NBTC program director Eric Altamirano said. “Regional qualifiers in different countries will allow more and more young talent to be discovered.
That’s the aim of NBTC: to identify, develop, and hone the best Filipino talents in the Philippines and abroad.”
The US tournament will feature four age groups: 19-under, 16-under, 14-under, and 12-under. NBTC training director Alex Compton, who had moved back to Wisconsin, will be on hand to witness who could follow in the footsteps of James Canlas, Chiolo Anonuevo, Kai Balunggay, and Eli Ramos as players who impressed in the NBTC League National Finals before being recruited to play for San Beda, FEU, Ateneo, and Adamson, respectively.
