Grassroots basketball in Cebu’s First District is set to get a shot in the arm with the staging of the Samsam Gullas Cup Season 2 this Saturday at the Minglanilla Sports Complex.
The opening ceremonies of the tournament sponsored by Emil’s Fresh Chicken start at 4 p.m. with Cebu First District Representative Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas leading the festivities.
In an interview yesterday, the team manager of the University of the Visayas (UV) basketball program and sports patron said that he is excited to once again give kids an opportunity to showcase their basketball skills.
“The point of the whole tournament is to showcase these kids’ talents so that they can be given scholarships. Three of them were given since last year. Two in the Cesafi,” said the youthful solon, referring to Jiezel Tarrosa of UV, Marc Nebril of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and Ervin Engbino, who was recruited to play for Adamson in the UAAP.
Gullas said he was even more thrilled to know that this year’s tournament would not be allowing current or former varsity players from the various collegiate leagues.
“I’m even more excited this year kay except for Passerelle and SBP, there will be no Cesafi, UAAP, NCAA players allowed to play. This means we’re giving more chances for unknown talents to be able to get an education,” Gullas added.
Bracket 1 would be composed of the defending champions Talisay, Naga and Carcar while Bracket 2 will have runners-up Minglanilla, San Fernando and Sibonga.
The first round would see teams play in a single round-robin while the second would see them play against teams in their own bracket. The top two finishers of each bracket would advance to the crossover, knockout semifinals. The finals would be a best-of-three battle with the champion to get a whopping P80,000.