BEST Goes Online

The Basketball Efficiency and Scientific Training (BEST) Center is pivoting and going online this season. This was revealed by Monica Jorge, the BEST Center’s Executive Vice President at the Philippine Sportswriters Association weekly online forum. “We believe that even if we’re in this pandemic situation, we still have to be active, to be healthy. So we have developed programs for that. We recognize the need to adapt to innovation, and by doing so, we are able to bring our expertise to a wider audience so that more kids will have the opportunity to develop their skills with our trusted mentors,” Jorge said.

The BEST Center, founded by the late Nic Jorge in 1978, has been at the forefront of staging basketball clinics and running an annual age group tournament for the developmental segment of basketball and volleyball. This year though will be different as they embark on online clinics and a weekly webcast to be streamed live over the Facebook Page Best Center Sports Inc., in partnership with Milo.

The online clinics will be held on Saturdays and Sundays starting September 26, and will be implemented differently from the usual face-to-face clinics for which BEST has been known for the past 42 years. These will be one-hour sessions and will be limited to only eight students per class. Classes will be held strategically throughout the weekend with zoom as a platform and google classroom as a learning management system.

Meanwhile, the online webcast “BIDA BEST LIVE!” will kick off on Saturday, September 19, 4:30pm, with BEST Center graduate Kiefer Ravena as guest. The webcast will feature BEST Center graduates who will share their stories from their experience in BEST Center clinics and tournaments. Milo Sports Executive and BEST Center product Luigi Pumaren kicked things off by sharing his own personal story. “I was a Milo kid talaga. I participated in the BEST Center program and I remember learning a lot from them particularly about discipline and confidence. And I took that with me when I tried out for the SBP and Passerelle teams. I’m very grateful for my experience with BEST Center. It made me not just a better basketball player, but a more well-rounded individual. I was able to develop character-forming values like discipline, confidence and teamwork,” Pumaren bared. He also recalled winning the national championship in both the SBP and Passerelle divisions, even teaming up with Ravena in the SBP team for the Greenies. Other guests on deck for the weekly webcast include Thirdy Ravena, Chris Tiu, Andrei Caracut, the Ildefonso brothers Shaun and Dave, and Benjie Paras. The webcast will be streamed live on the Facebook Page BEST Center Sports Inc.

For her part, Gilas Pilipinas Women’s national team member Ella Fajardo shared how she started training with the BEST Center every time she came home to the country and how her meeting BEST Center Julie Amos gave her the opportunity to be called up to the national team where Amos serves as an assistant coach to Pat Aquino. “From my experience with BEST Center, these coaches they really wanted to be with the children especially during these times. They loved their job, they loved teaching the basics and fundamentals step by step. I’ve learned so many fundamentals from the BEST Center that I wouldn’t have been here today if it weren’t for them,” Fajardo said from her New Jersey home.

Aside from the online clinics and webcast, an online skills competition that will be held later in the year, in lieu of the actual basketball tournament. Like the regular tournament, this will start at the local/provincial level nationwide and move up to a regional finals. All regional champions then get together at a season-ending online national finals.

Photo: Ella Fajardo of the Gilas Pilipinas Women’s Team guests at the Philippine Sportswriters Association weekly online forum. (PSA Facebook Page).