Lina Cup attracts talented six-footers

Everything is set for the coming Six Foot Junior Basketball Cup otherwise known as the Bert Lina Cup.

The two-week long cagefest featuring players six-feet above comes off the wraps on Feb. 10 at the Rizal Coliseum with about six teams from the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) taking part.

"This is one simple formula which no one wants to endorse until Bert Lina came along," said league commissioner Fritz Gaston during the PSA Forum at the Holiday Inn where he was joined by the other organizers behind the meet such as Airfreight president Lito Alvarez, tournament official Butch Antonio and Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) executive vice-president Christian Tan.

The tourney is aimed at building a team of towering, disciplined, well-trained, skilled and uniquely talented players from different points in the country, from where future talents can be recruited for inclusion to the national team.

Alvarez clarified that the meet, despite the presence of commercial ballclubs, is amateur in nature.

"Ang sagot lang naman ng mga teams diyan ay uniforms and probably, pamasahe lang ng mga bata," said the Airfreight 2100 official in the same forum which has Agfa Colors, Red Bull and Pioneer Insurance for sponsors.

PBA teams which are seeing action include Ginebra, Talk ‘N Text, Shell, Sta. Lucia, Coca-Cola and Red Bull.

Alvarez said Mr. Lina plans to make the meet a long-term program, hoping that more teams will be joining by next year.

A similar project was actually introduced by former coach Orly Castelo in the mid-90s. It lasted for about three years and was more like a camp for big men which a leading multi-national bottling company supported.