A Fly on the Wall (at Gilas Practice)

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     It's easy to take shots and give advice from the cheap seats; that's why I call my blog From the Fifty Peso Seats.  Last night though, I decided to move down the aisle and take a closer look.  Attending the practice of Smart Gilas, I had no idea who would train and what they would do.  One thing's for sure, though.  Leaving practice, I had a very good idea of how we're going to do at the Asian games.

     Scheduled at 7 p.m. at the Arena in San Juan, practice actually starts earlier than that, as I spy Mark Barroca already outside the gym at 530.  I came early, since I was meeting Chris Tiu for an interview at 6.  Soon after parking, JV Casio and Tiu arrive and we enter the gym.  Dylan Ababou follows, then Chris Lutz with Coach Rajko Toroman.  Chris and I begin talking as he gets taped.  Beside us, Casio gets a much needed massage treatment on his beat up legs.  As Casio grimaces in pain, I ask Chris about Marcus Douthit.  He is optimistic about Douthit's chances, but rues the pressure of having things done before the Senate goes on break.  He then reveals that even if Douthit is naturalized, we have to hope the Asian Games Committee accredits Douthit.  I ask him if China could screw us over and he admits it's a possibility.  


     Meanwhile, the other players start trickling in.  Big guys like Magi Sison, Jason Ballesteros and Greg Slaughter come in.  Then some cheers and jeers pop up as Aldrech Ramos, out since the UAAP started, has come back to training.  Tiu ribs him about Ateneo's recent win, then proceeds to get treatment for his strained legs as well.  As we begin our interview, I am distracted.  Marcus Douthit and Japeth Aguilar come in and they were followed shortly after by Sol Mercado and Asi Taulava.  In the interview, Chris reveals that the PBA pros are required to come on Mondays, then they will be required to come in everyday about two weeks before the Asian Games.  I never noticed Mac Baracael come in, but he too gets some treatment for his back.  Coach Toroman has been hard on the boys, trying to build conditioning before tapering off when the games approach.

     After the interview, Chris goes to join his teammates.  Toroman calls together Mercado, Asi, Ababou, Casio and Aguilar.  He hands out the GIlas playbook, about an inch thick, and tells them to study it.  Asi, ever the comedian, asks Coach Toroman to cover the pages in plastic so it's easy to clean when it gathers dust.  They turn serious, though, as they run through several plays in slow motion to get Asi and Sol familiarized.  In an earlier conversation, Mercado revealed that he is a visual person, so he needs to run through plays to better understand them.  After several run throughs and questions, Toroman starts practice. 


     Players, trainers and coaches gather and form two lines and then sing the national anthem a capella.  Then, Toroman gives a short pep talk about the Asian Games.  He needs the team to start strong in the Asiad, with the goal of finishing in the top 2 in the preliminaries.  Then, smiles break across the players faces as a familiar face joins the huddle.  A visually contrite Marcio Lassiter joins the huddle.  Kelly Williams, clearly still tired from the game against San Miguel the previous night, arrives and is immediately ready to join. A whistle from the Toroman signals drills.  Drills have the players go in teams of threes, moving up and down the court, passing for lay ups.  Then, in the same three man teams they pass for jumpers.  The drills are seemingly endless; they pass for spin move lay ups, then pick and pop jumpers.  Another drill involving post ups are executed, and by this time all players, are sweating like crazy, visually out of breath.  Finally, Toroman signals for a water break, eliciting an emphatic, "Yes!" from Baracael.  As the players rehydrate, Toroman and Lassiter begin a private talk.  

     The talk goes on longer than I thought, but the other players are not idle.  Coach Jimbo Saret leads the team into over 17 different warm up and stretching exercises.  Nearing the end of stretching, Mercado looks over, shakes his head and says to me, "I'm tired already, man."  He is not alone.  By this time, the players were already working non-stop for an hour, with only one 5 minute water break.  As the players break from stretching, Toroman and Lassiter finally end their conversation.  Toroman wastes no time in separating the team into two.  The group of Slaughter, Ballesteros, Sison, Ramos and Ababou are shooting baskets at one end of the gym.  On the other side, the ten players are divided into team blue and white.  Casio, Sol, Kelly, Asi and Mac are team white, while team blue is composed of Barroca, Tiu, Lutz, Douthit and Aguilar.  They play a half court game, with the defense getting the ball only if they stop the offense and grab the rebound.  The teams surprise me with their intensity, with the defense shouting out the back screens and switches and the offense constantly moving and setting picks.  The action stops once or twice, when the pros clarify some movements, but otherwise, they play intensely and non stop.  Almost a quarter's worth of possessions go by and it's encouraging to see both offense and defense flowing rather smoothly.  A whistle calls for a break, and I commend Mercado for picking up the plays quickly.  He says that was just three plays though, and there will be more in the future.  


     A timeout's worth of a break and the players are called back.  Douthit is replaced by Slaughter and Aguila by Ababou.  The two teams then plunge back into action, this time  with even more defensive intensity.  The pros are getting pumped up and every missed shot or missed pass is met with a groan of frustration or regret. Back on the other side, the players keep shooting, cathing and shooting from different areas on the floor.  No one is exempt from it, even Douthit.  After another quarter's worth of possessions, Toroman whistles for a break and thanks Asi for coming.  As I prepare to leave, I am surprised that training was far from over.  Toroman calls all the original Gilas members for a quick scrimmage.  Players all groan but ar eimmediately back on court.  This time, it's Casio, Baracael, Ballesteros, Slaughter and Ababou versus Chris Tiu, Chris Lutz, Barroca, Aguilar and Douthit.  The scrimmage is a free flowing one, with each team trying ot run plays, but running at every opportunity.  Douthit and Aguila get early reprieves at the halfway point to give Sison and Ramos some playing time.  Scrimmage ends as the team led by Casio sinks a three pointer to reach sixteen points (scoring is 1 and 2 points).  Then, players are tasked to shoot some more.  

     Training ends 20 minutes after that, with the team stretching to cool down.  Asi is back to his joking mood, telling Douhit he needs to play well because Asi plans to just be on the bench cheering for him.  When the stretching ends, Toroman calls on the players for a final talk, then they end with their "Pilipinas! Awoo!" cheer. As players begin to dress, I am surprised to see that Barroca, Tiu, Casio and Ababou keep shooting, stopping only when the gym custodian begins shutting the lights down.  


     As I take my leave, I thank Chris for letting me stay and I notice a bounce in my step.  Seeing Gilas complete and training hard, I knew I made the right choice when I defended the Gilas program months ago in this entry and in this one.   The Asian Games may just be a preparation tournament for them, but Gilas could actually pleasantly surprise us.