Superstar surprises

A platoon of the most known names in basketball will be the all-star coaches and trainors in the adidas Superstar Camp at the Beijing Sports University in China from May 22 to 26. Last year, the camp featured 56 participants aged 18 and below (including two Australian and two Filipinos in Migs Maniego and Tommy Babilonia). Twenty-nine of them were 6’7" and above, including a 13-year old, 7’1" Chinese boy who placed second in the three-point shootout.

The 2005 camp included six-time NBA Most Valuable Player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, NBA slamdunk champions Josh Smith and Desmond Mason, retired NBA All-Star Detlef Schrempf, and a brigade of topflight amateur coaches from the US.

This year, adidas Asia is looking for 60 players from China (40), Korea (2), Australia (2), Singapore (2), Philippines (2), Hong Kong (2) and Taiwan (2), with six other slots available for worthy ballers.

What really gets the candidates excited is the rare opportunity to be trained by some of their idols in the NBA. The NBA’s leading rebounder and recent Manila visitor Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic will be one of the featured NBA players. In only his 2nd year, the 6’11", 20-year old forward is also second overall in offensive and defensive rebounds, and was voted to the NBA All-Rookie and All-Sophomore teams, and will be an All-Star for many years to come. And as he proved at last year’s NBA Madness, he has a naturally effusive and playful personality, and loves mingling with fans.

Joining Howard will be Milwaukee Bucks guard and NCAA Player of the Year TJ Ford. Coming out of Texas, Ford averaged 12 points, five rebounds and close to seven assists for Milwaukee, before coming down with a career-threatening injury, which he worked hard to overcome.

Perhaps the person with the most impressive resume in the camp will be KC Jones. Jones, a teammate of Bill Russell at the University of San Francisco, won an Olympic gold medal in basketball in 1956, before joining the Boston Celtics squad that won an unparalleled eight straight championships in the 1960’s. Jones then coached Larry Bird and the Celtics to NBA championships in 1984 and 1986.

Retiring with an amazing 75 percent winning percentage as a coach in the NBA, the defensive specialist has been running his own camps for more than 20 years, and has traveled through Asia extensively.

Meanwhile, this will be the third adidas Superstar Camp Asia for Detlef Schrempf. The 6’10" former All-Star (now an assistant coach of the Seattle Supersonics), visited the Philippines three years ago and gave clinics ine Metro Manila and Batangas. He was the first German player in the NBA, and lasted 16 years in the league.

The camp will feature some unique training modules that will help Asian players adapt to playing basketball in American universities and, hopefully, the NBA. "Basketball English" was specifically designed by linguistics experts who have lived in Asia to teach the technical side of basketball to non-English-speaking participants. The module includes classes on offensive skills, defensive skills, dealing with the media, and even trash-talking.

Last year, Abdul-Jabbar taught "Basketball Psychology and Attitude", which explains the culture of the game. Kareem noted that, although Asians are by nature non-confrontational, the game of basketball is played "in your face". The young players he taught realized that it is a part of the game to trash-talk and try to get one up on your man, and you shouldn’t let it affect you, something the 20-year NBA veteran and six-time champion learned from John Wooden, his coach at UCLA.

Another module will cover the adidas Basketball "Next Level" Strength and Fitness program, to be conducted by Tracy McGrady’s exclusive personal trainer Wayne Hall. The course description says "Young Asian basketball players have the height, talent and athletic ability to succeed. However, most of them lack the know-how and motivation to take their bodies (and therefore their game) to "the next level." Through this class, they will have the unique opportunity to "train like Tracy" — and learn how to improve their strength and stamina through on-court drills that can take them to "the next level". This is part of an ongoing curriculum in which adidas offers ways to help local Asian players reach their dreams through on-court instruction from some of the world’s best teachers (including the NBA players who can take part and work with Wayne to run these kids through drills)."

Also in the line-up will be Daren Matsubara, president and head coach of Elito Basketball Organization, perhaps the most successful program in AAU basketball in the US. Matsubara has had a knack for spotting NBA talent at the high school level, and honing it through travel to various competitions throughout the US. This will be his third time to teach at the Asian camp.

So it looks like whoever the Philippines sends to Beijing will have an unforgettable, mind-blowing experience. And The STAR will be there to cover it.

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