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I CAUGHT
him hard at work at the UP Gym in Diliman, personally
conducting the drills of his young basketball
players—many of them new recruits from the highs whose
dreams were already all ablaze for UAAP Season
70.
Coach
Joe Lipa—lighter, leaner than his old self—looked spry
and light-footed, but still smoldered with the same
intensity that carried him through many cage battles of
yore, and gave him an eminence that other cage mentors
would envy.
What did
he think of the current brouhaha concerning the
Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) and the
Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP), I wondered. So
far he has been silent about this subject that is
definitely close to his basketball-loving heart. Had he
anything to say?
***
What I
know is only what I have read about in the papers”, he
began slowly, taking a puff from his cigarette. “I hope
the road to unification has been paved. I hope a
solution is in sight.”
“Whatever was discussed in
Tokyo, the handshake should have sealed it,” he said like a
sage. “The gentleman’s agreement should be
honored.”
Coach
Joe said everything bad that’s been thrown at the BAP
have been sweeping statements. “I think it’s directed at
personalities, not at issues.” But then again,
everything that’s being hurled by its detractors at the
SBP have been sweeping statements too, he noted. It’s
one hell of a communication snag.
***
Here are
the issues, he said : “The BAP does not want to
relinquish its power, which is natural. And the SBP is
offering a helping hand, but the BAP refuses to accept
it.”
He takes
a long drag on his cig, and dips back into the roots of
the situation. “The problem has been there for a long
time, and solutions to it have been long overdue,” he
says. “What was applied in the past were quick fix
solutions, so the chronic problem became aggravated. But
in fairness to the BAP, it did what it could do when
they were the leaders [of the organization]. They had a
program in place, but they could not implement it due to
lack of resources and lack of cooperation.”
“The
BAP’s hands were tied,” he explained further. “It could
not form a competitive national team because some of the
leagues refused to lend their best players. So they had
to resort to teams and players who were willing to play
[for the national team].” That resulted in less than
ideal performance for international competition. And
with disappointment over results came the wave of
displeasure and criticism from various sectors.
***
I see it
as a personality question,” coach Joe says. “Maybe
people have a wrong perception of the BAP leadership.
Maybe they have valid reasons, but then drastic steps
were already taken. And now, the BAP has what we call
quantitative power—because it is probably still counting
on the backing of basketball groups in the provinces.
But it is virtually powerless right now. It is very hard
to be a leader without followers.”
“The SBP,
they are now the qualitative stakeholders. The groups
and the leagues that are behind it are the real powers
in basketball. The BAP claims otherwise, but its
stakeholders are only quantitative. The movers and
shakers are behind the SBP.”
“A lot
of key officials from the BAP have resigned, and it
seems more will follow suit. I think the BAP will now
listen to the voice of the majority.
Coach
Joe sees this as a promising sign that unification is on
the way.
***
But
there’s a world of difference between unification and
cooperation,” he cautions. “Even before the
Tokyo accord, if you ask personalities, they will say Philippine
basketball is united. The PBA lent a helping hand,
especially during the time when Atty. Rudy Salud was PBA
Commissioner and we sent a team to compete in the ABC.
Other leagues like the UAAP and other collegiate leagues
say they are also behind Philippine basketball. But the
real test is whether all these leagues and teams will be
willing to sacrifice their best players when they are in
the middle of a championship campaign. Will they be
willing to sacrifice their teams’ performance for the
good of the country? This is where cooperation comes
in.”
“The
biggest problem is that it is hard for the team owner,
or the league for that matter, to sacrifice for the good
of the country. It is really asking too much of the PBL,
the PBA or the collegiate leagues to make that
sacrifice. That is the pragmatic aspect of it.”
***
There is
also another problem. All international competitions run
smack into our local tournaments. Just imagine a player
practicing for four months, gelling with his team and
performing well, then having to leave his team to play
for the national team?
Will
there ever be a solution?
Next
week, coach Joe lets us in on a possible win-win
arrangement. Hang in there. |
