#LabanPilipinas: For Dave Ildefonso, Gilas is his way of basketball life

Before Gilas Pilipinas happened, it is considered a long shot that a player had played in all age-group national teams and eventually make it into the main squad.

That all changed in the past decade, when Kiefer Ravena made it into the main Gilas squad during the first phase of the World Cup qualifiers in 2017 after first making his name from the old Nokia U16 and U18 programs, then to the Sinag/Cadets.

With the 24-man squad being released for the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers, a sizeable chunk of the players came from the Batang Gilas program, whose chemistry and cohesion were vital as well as their familiarity with the international game.

Count Dave Ildefonso as one of those, as he was glad just to be part of Mark Dickel's squad.

"Siyempre masaya ako. being one of the youngest na nakasali sa pool," said the son of the Demolition Man, who was part of the national team set up in both the amateur and the pro ranks, after summarizing his opening day in training. 

For him, the experience was the only thing that mattered the most, as he knows this was the huge upgrade from his stints with Batang Gilas that went all the way to the U19 World Cup in Greece last year, where he emerged as a perfect cover for Kai Sotto.

In that tournament, he stepped up after the premature exit of AJ Edu as he barged into the top 10 scoring leaders at 16.6 per game, while leading the team with 3.7 assists per contest.

And Dave is not done yet to chase his ultimate dream.

"Kahit ma-break ko man yung 12 man line-up, kahit one time lang malaking tulong na yun sa kin. Dream ko yun eh, ever since nung youth ko pa."

To him, seeing him with the veterans such as Kiefer Ravena, Troy Rosario and Marc Pingris was a proof on how he had reached so far in his career.

"Yung pinapanood ko lang, nakakalaro ko na."

Although getting starstruck, he admitted that their presence is a huge boost to his career, after making headlines in returning to Ateneo, ending his two-year stint with National U to open his UAAP career.

"Malaking tulong na yung Gilas, kasi at least naiintro na ako sa system ni coach Tab," said Ildefonso. "Maganda yung mga baby steps kasi matagal pa yung sit-out ko".

With his residency forcing him to sit out for the next 18 months, he believes that Gilas provides him the highest quality of basketball to hone his skills further.

"International [basketball] is really a different beast, and just being able to practice together with these guys and just be around them, is gonna be better for my career as a player."

File Photo by FIBA