Top PBL coaches join FIBL junior clinic

Junel Baculi, coach of the Welcoat Paints, and Leo Austria of Shark Energy Drinks, are currently engaged in a best-of-seven title series for the 2000 PBL Challenge Cup with Welcoat as defending champions.

But even as the two respected coaches are adversaries on the court, it is a different story off the court as Baculi and Austria have joined hands and head the coaching staff of the Filipino-Indian Basketball League (FIBL) junior basketball clinic set to start on Feb. 11 at the FMAC courts, La Salle Greenhills in Ortigas.

This was announced recently by FIBL commissioner Dilip Budhrani. "This is the second year of this FIBL program aimed at promoting sports among the Fil-Indian youth, and aside from teaching the fundamentals of basketball such as dribbling, passing, shooting, and defense, we also aim to foster camaraderie and discipline among them," said Budhrani, who has been at the helm of the revived FIBL the last two years.

Baculi and Austria welcomed the program and promised to do what they can in terms of sharing their basketball knowledge with the young.

"This is also a good way to discover possible new talents in basketball considering we have different age groups for the clinic," said Baculi.

The 24-hour, 12-session weekend clinic is open to all Fil-Indian youth 16 years old and below. The youngest group is from 5 to 7 years old.