Nike camp hopes to churn out more Zhizhis, Alvins

BEIJING – The Nike All-Asia Basketball Camp 02 came to a close Sunday and expectations were high that new Wang Zhizhis and Yao Mings will come out of it for China and hopefully new Alvin Patrimonios and Olsen Racelas for the Philippines.

Nike China sports marketing director Terry Rhoads believed his project was a huge success, it may give opportunities for the camp attendees to realize their dreams in the near future.

Nike Philippines’ Auty Villarama, meanwhile, thought their effort to send a delegation here was worthwhile because it touched the lives of six Filipino youths.

"It’s not about competition and I’m happy because of the trip, Nike touched the lives of six Filipino boys, inculcating them the Nike message which is to inspire and innovate. There’s no doubt that the boys were inspired and now ready to make innovation in their games," said Villarama.

Johan Uichico, Ken Barracoso, Rejan Lee, Michael Vincent Baldos, Joseph Casio and John Calger Condevillamar were all thankful to Nike, saying their stint in the camp definitely made them better players.

"Yung mga basic fundamentals na itinuro sa amin dito, naituro na rin sa Pilipinas. But the good things we learned here are more about the attitude towards the game. Magaganda ang values and stories na nakuha namin dito," said Barracoso.

"The No. 1 thing na naipasok sa isip ko dito is that basketball is not all about pure talent. Hardwork, patience, practice separate great players from good players," said Uichico.

Barracoso and Uichico, both members of the Ateneo juniors team in the UAAP, stood out among the Filipino camp attendees with both even tapped to play in the All-Star game closing the camp activities Sunday night. Both played for the Eastern Conference team which bowed to the Western Conference squad led by Chinese standouts Wang Lei and Chen Da Wei.

Chen’s Bulls team earlier emerged as champion in the mini-tournament among the 60 campers. The Nuggets team, that included Uichico and Baldos, finished second runner-up with the Lakers team of Casio and Condevillamar coming in fourth and the Wizards of Barracoso and Lee sixth and last.

The Chinese dominated the individual awards with Wang, a 6-foot-7 do-it-all forward from He Nan, winning the Most Valuable Player honors. Chen, the 6-foot-9 slotman from Guangdong, was named Best Rebounder, 6-foot-11 behemoth Yi Jian Ling, also from Guangdong, Best Offensive Player, Liaoning’s Yang Ming Best Guard and Huang Zhi Feng, another Guangdong player, Best Shooter.

Taiwanese spitfirish guard Li Wei Lun was the lone non-Chinese to win individual award, copping the Best Defensive Player honors.

So impressive was Yi that he immediately got an invitation to try out for college basketball in the United States from no other than United States Basketball Academy chief operating officer Bruce O’Neil. The USBA top official, who is also an international scout of the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA and a college team in Oregon, has just arrived to conduct his own clinic in the country. Incidentally, O’Neil was the same man who conducted a clinic for the Philippine Centennial Team in the USBA camp in Eugene, Oregon in 1998.

O’Neil, who has also supervised clinics for the Chinese national team several times, noted that the Chinese have improved a lot. He said there are now a number of Chinese players with potential to play in the NBA.