Tiu Tiu Train (of Thought) Part 1

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     From the Fifty Peso Seats is honored to have an email conversation with Charles Tiu, one of Smart Gilas' insiders, who took time out to reveal news on Gilas, among other things.  In part one, Tiu finally details the real deal about Gilas, debunking some lies other newspapers have been concocting. (Note: The interview was conducted a week ago and all of the information has since been verified by the news)

From the Fifty Peso Seats: You've become an unofficial spokesperson of Smart Gilas, writing about them in the broadsheets and updating fans on twitter.  How did you get in this

position?  Did you volunteer or were you asked?

Charles Tiu: I don't think I am their unofficial spokesperson. I just happen to know a lot of stuff about the team, since I'm pretty close to coach and i follow them a lot, watch their practices and all that. And I really only update with things that i know are okay to be talked about already. Like (for) example Lassiter being AWOL. (Lassiter has since apologized to Gilas - FFPS) It came out only late last week in the papers but we knew about that a few weeks earlier. I didn't want any of those coming from me, because I am in no position to report that. I just also like to update people via twitter cause I feel that with the generation nowadays, they don't really bother reading newspapers much to get their news updates.

FFPS: There has been great debate about Gilas asking for reinforcements from the

PBA.  What is your personal view?  Does Gilas need reinforcements?

CT: I think that we definitely could use some help from the PBA. Coach always tells me that for guards, height is never an issue for him, but for the big men, he definitely needs tall players. Right now we have two power forwards and Mac Baracael is one of them (the other one is 6'9" Japeth Aguilar). He is a warrior with a very big heart but at 6'3", he is quite small to play power forward against some international teams and it really takes a toll on him. I might seem biased about not wanting other players on the team cause my brother is part of the team, but really, i know the most important thing for him is winning, and i definitely share the same sentiment. There is nothing i want more than our country to do well in all their tournaments, and if adding PBA players will help the team then i am all for it, so i say yes. They sure can use some reinforcements. (I think) about 2 players would be enough.

FFPS: There has been a lot of confusion regarding which PBA players are being

requested by Gilas.  Why was there confusion and to set the record straight,

which players does Coach Rajko Toroman want on the team?

CT: He's always wanted Kelly Williams and if not Kelly then Ranidel De Ocampo (Ranidel has since had surgery - FFPS). He's been looking for another power forward for the longest time. Aside from that, he was looking at Ryan Reyes and if not Ryan Reyes then Solomon Mercado. Ryan Reyes couldn't play in the Asian games due to personal reasons (his wife is giving birth.. or something like that) and Solomon Mercado is injured. James Yap was volunteering to play for Gilas and stating his interest to play for the team. At first coach didn't really want it but after a while, he decided that he wants James Yap because he said he wants the two most popular players in the Philippines (Tiu and Yap) to play together in the same team, so he can get the support of all the Filipinos. Then you have Asi Taulava, who volunteered to just train with the team in order to stay in shape. He ended up going with the team to Lebanon in the Stankovic and coach was happy enough with his performance that he now wants him for the Asian Games. So there, the three players he wants to tap for the asian games are Asi, Kelly and James Yap (Yap has begged off citing marital woes and Derby Aces' injury problems - FFPS).

     I think the confusion with all this is because of the media. It's the writers just changing the words, which can make a whole different story, and also the readers who tend to overlook some words and not read too properly. But it is very typical and nothing new.

FFPS: If you were GIlas manager, which specific area do you think the team really

needs to work on right now?

CT: Getting the players to be more motivated and to work even harder in practice. They practice for 2 hours everyday (with weights 3 x a week) and sometimes it's as if the players are still quite tired, lazy and lacking energy in practice. I feel this way after playing basketball with the RP womens team and finding out they train twice a day everyday, and they have to run suicides after practice games for every turnover they commit. Pretty insane if you ask me. I just wish the players would treat this more like a privilege rather than their job.

FFPS:  With the Gilas program being a success, do you think this is a good

blueprint for other sports programs as well?  To have one major benefactor?

CT: I don't know. I don't really know how much budget the government allots to our sports programs. But if the benefactor is as rich and as giving as MVP then why not?! This definitely will be a good blueprint for any other sport, if only we had the budget for it. I guess basketball is the main focus (despite it being a big challenge) because basketball is loved by every Filipino!

     Watch out for part two of this exclusive interview in the coming days.  Next time, Tiu talks about his "Top 10 Top 10 picks" and gives his view on the best player from Xavier School.

photos courtesy of bbs.hoopschina.com, insidesports.ph