Spoelstra to reunite with Pinoy relatives

MANILA, Philippines - Miami coach Erik Spoelstra will take a break from his hectic seven-day Philippine tour to reunite with Filipino relatives this Friday and the get-together is expected to be heart-warmingly sentimental as the Fil-Am hasn’t visited here since he was three years old.

No details were available as to where the reunion will be held but it was confirmed that Spoelstra has been excused from a basketball clinic for underprivileged girls at the San Andres Gym that day. Spoelstra’s travelling companions, Miami assistant coach David Fizdale and former WNBA star Sue Wicks, will conduct the clinic in his absence.

But Spoelstra will be at the San Andres Gym on Saturday morning to supervise a clinic for underprivileged boys.

Spoelstra’s mother Elisa Caridad Celino, 68, is from San Pablo, Laguna. She is a UP Diliman journalism graduate and taught at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City before leaving for the US in 1966. His father Jon is of Dutch-Irish descent and used to work in the front office of the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets and New Jersey Nets.

Spoelstra’s mother has a sister Esperanza and two brothers Tony and Cecilio living in the Philippines. Esperanza resides in Naga while Tony, who lived over 10 years in the US, is now based in Los Baños. Cecilio is a surgeon at the Philippine Heart Center.

Spoelstra, 38, was the US Embassy’s hand-picked choice to spearhead the tour which is under the auspices of the Sports Envoy Program of the US Department of State. The tour was designed to promote goodwill through basketball.

The travelling party arrived here Monday afternoon. Yesterday, Spoelstra and his team were in Zamboanga City to conduct clinics. This morning, Spoelstra will meet the press in one-on-one interviews at his hotel. In the afternoon, he will conduct a clinic organized by the PBA at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Tomorrow morning, Spoelstra will preside in a clinic for the UAAP at the La Salle Greenhills gym and in the afternoon, he will be with NCAA coaches and players at the San Beda gym.

A Miami Heat advisory mentioned that Spoelstra is in the Philippines “to conduct leadership clinics for coaches, including basketball drills and team-building activities as well as engage local underprivileged youth in a dialogue on the importance of education, teamwork, leadership and respect for diversity.”

The advisory added that the NBA and WBNA are teaming with the US State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Sports United Office to organize a series of Sports Envoy programs this summer.

Spoelstra took over the Miami coaching reins from Pat Riley this past season and piloted the Heat to a 43-39 record, fifth overall in the Eastern Conference. It was a major turnaround from the previous season where Miami fell to the league cellar with a lowly 15-67 mark.

Spoelstra, who has an older sister Monica, brought the Heat to the first round of the playoffs and without the homecourt advantage, Miami lost to fourth-seeded Atlanta in a best-of-7 series that went the distance. The outcome could’ve been different if only Heat center Jermaine O’Neal was 100 percent. O’Neal suffered a concussion from an elbow to the head in Game 5, sat out Game 6 and played only 42 seconds in Game 7.

While Spoelstra is in town, there is talk in Miami that Riley is moving heaven and earth to surround Dwayne Wade with a nucleus of crack players to make the Heat even more competitive this coming season. Riley is pursuing Los Angeles Lakers free agent Lamar Odom and Utah Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer via a trade.

Odom and Wade played together at Miami in 2003-04. Odom was involved in a trade that brought Shaquille O’Neal to the Heat a year later. This past season, Odom played a key role as a sixth man in the Lakers’ charge to the title.

Wade, O’Neal, Michael Beasley, Udonis Haslem, Mario Chalmers and James Jones are among the Heat mainstays.