Basketball 2017 events
Have you heard of the phrase “To think is to create”? You think about something, you dream about it and you make it happen. We’re going to do just that today as we introduce to you a number of basketball events that we would like to see happening under our watch at the Cebu Youth Basketball League and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas. You can also plug in here the Omega Pro Sports International team.
We’ll start the year with the first tournament for CYBL 2017 / Season 10. After starting in 2008 with only ten teams in two age groups, the CYBL has grown by leaps and bounds; one tournament last year had over 60 teams spread over four age groups. The main objective of the CYBL? Develop basketball among the youth. Give them a chance to play. Our motto: Let them play. We don’t play for championships per se; we simply play. For purposes of order and ease of management, we’re looking at starting the year with three age groups: Under 11, 13 and 16. We might add an Under 19 age group if there is a demand among ballclubs. We’ll also have two divisions or competitive levels for each age group. Division 1 is for the strong teams, while Division 2 is for developmental and smaller ballclubs. The tournament will run from January 28 until the end of March.
Next up is an inter-town summer league for the province that we’re targeting to spread from north to south. The objective is to provide a venue for local basketball to develop and to promote sports tourism in the province. Every weekend will have games played in different towns in a home-and-away format. The province will be divided into four divisions, with each division champion moving on to the playoffs until an over-all champion is determined. The coverage will primarily be for the towns outside of Metro Cebu since these are the marginalized members of the basketball scene.
We’ll also have a CYBL Summer League for Under 12, 15 and 18 age groups. This will serve as a pre-season tournament for the upcoming school-based tournaments for the school year 2017-2018. We’re also praying that the Batang PBA makes a return this summer with CloudFone as its chief backer. This is for 13 to 16 year old players. The Cebu champion qualifies for the Visayas regional finals and if they win here, they move on to the national finals (all-expenses paid trip).
The SBP will also host the regional finals of the SBP 3X3 tournament. This year’s edition features two age groups: Under 17 (born 2000) and 15 (born 2002). This will have both boys and girls divisions for the two age groups. We’ll bring in the various top 3X3 teams from the different towns, cities and schools from Central Visayas as they face off in a weekend-long tournament. The champions qualify for the SBP 3X3 national finals which will be held in Manila. Somewhere in between, we can also do an inter-college 3X3 tournament featuring the top college teams of the region. The champion here also proceeds to the national finals in Manila.
The end of the summer will mean the start of the BEST SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament backed by Milo, the country’s longest-running age group basketball tournament that is nationwide in scope. Games for the Cebu leg will start in July, while the Visayas regional finals will be in October. The national finals will be held in December.
The CESAFI, Cebu’s biggest basketball event, will start in August and end around October. The crowds will flock to the Cebu Coliseum and anticipate a showdown among college powerhouses University of the Visayas, Southwestern University, University of San Carlos and University of San Jose-Recoletos. UV is out to score a B2B, while SWU is out to prove that they deserve to be in the finals. A lot of interesting things are also happening at USC as they also rebuild despite finishing second last year. The high school division title will again be contested by Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (going for a fifth straight championship), UC and UV. Don Bosco may pull a few surprises this season as it continues to rebuild under a re-engineered program.
Other basketball activities worth citing are the ongoing NBTC tournament which ends by the end of the month. The national finals will be played in March. The CVIRAA will be held in Naga next month, while the Palarong Pambansa will be held in May. I haven’t mentioned the other youth basketball leagues that have also done a great job of providing a venue basketball activity.
To think is to create. We’ve declared all this. We’ve set the target. Now let’s go out and do it.
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