A new basketball team has emerged from the Far East.
Here, we will see its uniqueness because the team from the Philippines is composed of veteran and well-known basketball players in the country, together with the professionals in their chosen field that are able to compete in the sports.
It is led by one of the legendary coaches in Philippine basketball, none other than Coach Arlene Rodriguez.
In an exclusive interview with Scoreline.ph, Rodriguez shared and identified the formation and humble beginning of the Masters Pinoy Pilipinas 45up Basketball, as well as how he managed to coach the team. He also shared his thoughts about the country's upcoming participation in the World Masters Games to be held this coming May.
Coach Arlene told Scoreline that they started the Masters Pinoy Pilipinas 45up Basketball in October last year, through the help and initiative of their team manager, Architect Rey Punongbayan. Together with coaches Dann Michael Caneba and Albert Valbuena, they started planning and organizing the structure of the basketball team from the second week of December until this January, and the players also started practicing.
“Masters Pinoy was created in October. But we started practicing on the 2nd of December, then we had a talk. Then we decided to start it again this January,” said Rodriguez.
One of the things that Coach Arlene considered was the conditioning of the players who are already at the age of 45 years old and above, but still have the skills, passion, and effort to play competitive basketball.
The former assistant coach of the now defunct Formula Shell added that their team is composed of ex-professional players, amateurs, varsity players, and even businessmen who are passionate about basketball.
Coach Arlene also shared that he did not have any difficulty in handling his players because of the amount of basketball experience they had.
“Actually, they understand the game better as they already have a lot of experience playing. Mentally, they are prepared, they can pick the instructions easily, unlike the young ones that need details of everything. The only thing that we need to work out is their conditioning, including team effort from both offense and defense.”
And the World Masters tournament will be an avenue for Coach Arlene and his players to showcase Filipino talent once again.
In the end Coach Arlene asked our countrymen to support the Masters Pinoy in their upcoming tournament.
“I hope you support us. Masters Pinoy in the World Masters tournament in Taiwan from May 17th to 30th. And those who haven’t been part of the Philippine team before, still work hard, especially when you’re 40 and above, because maybe in the future you can be part of the team,” coach Rodriguez concluded.
We can say that Coach Arlene has dedicated his life to the field of basketball since he started playing for the JRC Heavy Bombers until he became an assistant coach to famous teams in the PBA, such as Formula Shell and the crowd-favorite Ginebra.
Coach Arlene is also currently the coach of TUP Greyhawks and shaping the future of Philippine basketball through his grassroots programs.
