The Letran Knights want to keep the ball on their side of the court, and so the team did not waste any time and started training for the upcoming basketball leagues that they will join in this summer. These tournaments would serve as a barometer on how they will perform in the next National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) season.
The Knights have already buckled down to work for the Fr. Martin’s cup, the Nike Summer League, and the Flying-V Summer Basketball Tournament that are to open tentatively on the third week of April.
One of the many components of the cagers’ training was the conditioning program conducted by Letran track-and-field mentor and soon-to-be the Knights’ conditioning coach Roy Jolito, which started last March 9 and continues to the present for an hour each day. The activity, which focuses on strengthening the stamina and endurance of the players, runs for eight weeks every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6am to 7am.
Another part of the Knights’ training is their mini team-building activity that head coach Louie Alas plans to hold every Fridays on campus for two hours starting on the third week of March. It focuses on the way the players, as well as the entire coaching staff, act on and off the hard court, and also aims to promote positive thinking among all the participants. There would be an individual talk and a team talk that are projected to create a more harmonious relationship among the team members.
Alas also plans to go out-of-town for tune-up games with teams from different provinces, but this plan is yet to be approved. He said the players would still have tune-up games with teams from Manila should the out-of-town plan would not be given a go signal.
Alas said he wanted the cagers to do well in the upcoming summer leagues. He said they are not preparing for any team; instead they are training to improve themselves as a team. Right now, their biggest competitors are themselves, how far they would go and up to what skill they can sow on the court. He emphasized that the absence of their graduating players and those who have already played out their eligible playing years can be a big problem for them if they do not play hard this season.
“The games in these leagues would serves as training sessions for us; it [the result] will tell us how good we can do in the coming NCAA basketball season,” said Alas.
Alas said he is not hoping that his remaining players will turn out to either be the next Dino Daa or next Alvyn Cabonce. He says these players are unique and there may never be anyone like them; what he wants his players to do now is to create their own name and have their won game.
Rafael Joey “RJ” Jazul and Rey Francis Guevarra are the remaining “veteran” members of the team who will battle with the rest of the Knights in the 85th NCAA season.
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