Schrempf to bring 2 Pinoy coaches to US

Two young and aspiring Filipino coaches will be sent by former National Basketball Association (NBA) star Detlef Schrempf to intern at the United States Basketball Academy (USBA) for a month in MacKenzie River, Oregon, this July.

Schrempf’s personal foundation received a grant from the US Department of State last year to undertake a basketball diplomacy program called "Understand the Game" in the Philippines and a key component of the cultural exchange mission is to sponsor the internship of two Filipino coaches.

Schrempf himself is coming to lead a traveling group that will conduct basketball clinics in Olongapo and Lipa on April 23-May 2. He will be accompanied by his wife Mari, Lewis and Clark College varsity coach Bob Gaillard, former Ateneo coach Mark Molina (who’s enrolled in the Master’s in Business Administration program at the University of Oregon), Beth Babic of the Detlef Schrempf Foundation, three US coaching students, a former NBA player, and clinic director Brooks Meek.

In an e-mail to The Star, Meek said Filipino applicants for the internship may now log on to Schrempf’s website www.detlef.com to signify their intent.

"We want to have aspiring coaches who are attending school or recently graduated from university," said Meek. "Coaches are prioritized based on all experiences, recommendations, and their essay. The age range is targeted at college age kids 19 to 24."

Meek said when the Schrempf group arrives in Manila in April, the foundation will have already chosen four finalists among the Filipino applicants. The finalists will be interviewed face to face by Schrempf during his trip here. Schrempf will announce the choices for the two interns on June 1. The internship begins on July 18.

"There is no better teacher than experience," explained Meek, a 5-10 sharpshooting guard who averaged 21 points as a Lewis and Clark junior in 1997. "The Understand the Game campaign will utilize a creative application process to select two Philippine students who are aspiring basketball coaches to participate in a unique internship program this summer."

Meek said the two interns will learn basketball techniques at the USBA camp where for four weeks, they will work closely with such hoop scholars as former Louisiana State University coach Dale Brown and Hall of Fame star Rick Barry.

"The internship phase of our campaign encourages long-term student involvement in basketball by acquainting them with the challenges and rewards of participating in a rewarding, one-of-a-kind opportunity," continued Meek. "It also garners the needed public interest back in the Philippines which is key in achieving long-term sustainable results. The excitement created from the internship program will reveal and roll out the dedication, energy, and idealism that drive the messages of the Understand the Game campaign."

Meek said the foundation is in the process of choosing three aspiring young US basketball coaches to join the trip to the Philippines. One of the coaching students will be an exemplary young athlete from the Pacific Northwest where Schrempf played most of his NBA career. Meek described the search for the three coaches as exhaustive, comprehensive, and proactive. Nomination packets are being sent to a wide range of institutions, organizations, universities, and higher-education associations that promote intercultural exchange and athletic development as an important aspect of their operations.

A US applicant to the program is 26-year-old Hernando Planells who is half-Spanish and half-Filipino. Planells was born in Los Angeles and coached at Immaculate Heart High School in Tucson, Arizona, and Los Angeles High School. He also served as a staff assistant for the varsity basketball team at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in 2000-01 and coached the Bouncers team in a cable TV tournament called "Slamball," a hybrid basketball game with an X-Games twist using state-of-the-art trampolines in the painted area of the court to make it a more exciting, high-flying, slam-dunking entertainment show.

Planells’s father Hernando, Sr. and his mother Carmen Pelaez Pangan of Cagayan de Oro met in Manila in 1974.

Planells, who has visited the Philippines only once, played basketball at Los Angeles Valley College. He had a brief stint as an import in the Iceland league before deciding to concentrate solely on coaching.

Because Planells lives in Los Angeles, he does not qualify as a Filipino applicant for the USBA internship. His application is for one of the three slots allocated to US coaching students whom Schrempf will bring here.

A confirmed member of the Schrempf traveling group is Molina, an Ateneo management economics graduate in 1994. Molina played for the Blue Eagles from 1991 to 1993, first under coach Chot Reyes then under Baby Dalupan. He coached the Eagles in 1995, left, returned as Perry Ronquillo’s assistant in 1997, and took over as Ateneo head coach again in 1998.

Molina was a TV analyst for the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) and University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) games on the ABS-CBN network before enrolling in Oregon.

Molina is expected to earn his Master’s degree in June this year.