AIA stars to go up vs UAAP, PBA teams

MANILA, Philippines - A team of US NCAA Division I basketball players under the banner of Athletes In Action (AIA) will engage PBA and UAAP senior squads in a series of at least eight games here on July 24-Aug. 4 with the goal of spreading the Christian gospel through sports.

Morris Michalski, who is NBA star Kevin Durant’s spiritual mentor, will coach AIA. He has 36 years of head coaching experience at various levels and piloted AIA to wins over Macedonia, ranked top four in Europe, in 2012 and two-time African champion Tunisia last year. Michalski, the US Olympic men’s basketball team chaplain, brought AIA teams to tour the Philippines in 1994, 1995 and 2006.

Leading the team is 6-2 point guard Traevon Jackson who averaged 12.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists with the University of Wisconsin varsity in the NCAA Tournament this past season. Jackson, 21, led the Badgers to the NCAA Final Four and has started 67 straight games for his school. He is the son of former NBA cager Jimmy Jackson who played for 12 teams in 14 pro seasons earning over $30 Million in salary up to 2006.

AIA was founded in 1966 by Dave Hannah as the sports arm of its mother ministry Campus Crusade for Christ. It has grown into a world-wide organization of athletes and coaches with over 650 staff and more than 7,500 volunteers in 94 countries, including the Philippines. Among the athletes affiliated with AIA are Durant, Chris Paul, San Antonio Spurs legend David Robinson, Philippine-born football quarterback Tim Tebow and Rain Or Shine’s Gabe Norwood as local counterpart.

In 1978, the US was represented by AIA at the FIBA World Championships in Manila. The team, coached by Bill Oates, finished fifth with a 6-4 record. The US players included Ralph Drollinger, Marvin Delph, Irv Kiffin, Tim Hall and Eugene Parker. A US player Larry Johnson of Kentucky was disqualified before the tournament started when it was revealed in a Manila newspaper that he had played four games with the Buffalo Braves in the NBA in 1977-78. At the time, FIBA did not allow pro players at the World Championships.

AIA Philippines sports and events director Mon Casuga said the schedule of games is still subject to change but Aug. 3 is being set aside for a fund-raising game against a PBA team. AIA Philippines national director Jose Andes is finalizing the itinerary in coordination with Michalski.  

During the visit, Michalski plans to hold a coaches clinic at the Technological Institute of the Philippines and clinics for Department of Education coaches and teachers in Batangas and Manila. The group will also do community work at Smokey Mountain and take a trip to Baguio. Several teams have been contacted by AIA to check on their availability to play. PBA teams Air 21 (now N-Lex), Kia Motors, Blackwater Sports, San Miguel Beer, Globalport, Barako Bull and Barangay Ginebra and UAAP schools FEU, La Salle, NU, Ateneo and Adamson were in the AIA invitation list.

According to Casuga, the tour’s five objectives are “to enhance the basketball program in the Philippines by competing with top UAAP and PBA teams, to bring about a partnership by sharing AIA’s expertise through a series of coaching clinics, to launch a five-year basketball development program for AIA Philippines, to develop a ‘community of coaches’ who will coach the hand, head and heart of athletes and to raise funds to sustain AIA projects in the country, including the Community Development Sports Program nationwide.” An AIA briefer said, “More than the game, the goal and the glory, AIA is in it for the greater good of those who have lesser in life … this is what AIA plays for.”

Aside from Jackson, others in the tentative AIA lineup are 6-0 Quincy Taylor of Longwood University, 6-6 Kellen Dunham of Butler University, 6-4 Toddrick Gotcher of Texas Tech, 6-5 Alex Caruso of Texas A&M, 6-5 Jerome Hill of Gardner-Webb University, 6-7 Demonte Flannigan of Cleveland State, 6-10 Michael Bradley of Samford University, 6-8 Lotanna Nwogbo of Longwood University, 6-9 Aaron Scales of Cleveland State, 6-4 Jordan Sibert of the University of Dayton, 6-7 Sam Dekker of the University of Wisconsin and 6-7 Keaton Miles of the University of Arkansas.

Michalski, who coached at Bryan College in Tennessee for 13 years, has taken AIA teams all over the world and said he has found the experience a positive contributor to personal growth, describing the cultural exchange to be “rich” and “life-changing.” He said, “All this kind of exposure, when at first there’s possible culture shock, it ends up making things much richer because you see yourself and you see the world and your culture like a lens.” When Michalski came to the Philippines in 2006, his aims were “to provide a rich cross-cultural experience for each player, serve and love all the people they meet, provide worthy competition on the court and bring honor to Jesus Christ through sharing God’s love and truth to prompt spiritual movements in the country.” The goals are the same for the coming tour.

Michalski’s staff will be made up of New Mexico State player development coach Eric Brand, strength and conditioning specialist Jim Rumelhart, veteran basketball instructor Phil Bollier and Atlanta Hawks youth development instructor Virgil Amey.