Elite 60 Development Camp looks to help Gilas unearth best young talent in PH

Photo by Randolph B. Leongson

With the goal of finding the next young basketball prospects, the Elite 60 Development Camp gathers 60 of the best 16-and-under high school players in the country today for an intensive four-day training.

Spearheaded by coaches Eric Altamirano and Alex Compton, the goal of the program is to identify potential talents who may be considered for a spot in the national team for the age-group competitions.

“We tried to come up with the program that will complement and assist the national team program, specifically for the under-16 and under-18 program,” said Altamirano.

The four-day camp which begins Thursday at Colegio de San Agustin Gym in Makati is the culmination of the program that started with five regional tryouts— in La Salle Green Hills for NCR; University of Assumption in San Fernando, Pampanga for Northern Luzon; Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Calamba, Laguna for Southern Luzon; Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu for Visayas; and Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro for Mindanao.

The players underwent rigorous screening from esteemed coaches through the course of the tryouts, and will now be handled by former Australia Boomers Rob Beveridge, who once again serves as the camp director.

“You have to teach the kids the fundamentals of the game,” said Beveridge. “I’ve never seen any group more passionate about the sport than this country and it’s really special place seeing the kids’ hearts and passion. Those are the kids that you really want to coach. We’ll be teaching the kids the fundamentals and it’s only the start. We’ll teach these kids on really how to be elite players.”

Gilas team manager Butch Antonio appreciated the mission of the Elite 60 Development Camp, which aims to be the fodder system for the national youth team.

“This is a good program that they’ve developed and it’s something worth supporting and tying up with. Hopefully, this thing carries on through more years,” he said.