The Gilas Pilipinas has chosen the Queen City of the South to be the base camp for their final preparations for the 2015 Fiba Asia Men’s Championships in Changsha, China.
This was confirmed in an exclusive interview with Cebu Daily News by none other than the “Cebuano Hotshot” Dondon Hontiveros, who divulged that he and the rest of the squad will be flying in on Monday and will be staying in Cebu until the end of the week.
Though the logistics of the camp are yet to be known, Hontiveros said that Gilas head coach Tab Baldwin wants the team to have eight practices here as they head into the homestretch of their preparations for the Rio Olympics qualifying tournament.
The 37-year-old two-guard said that Baldwin made the call to bring the training camp to Cebu as the place will offer them less distractions and afford them both time and space to refine their game plan for the tough competition that lies ahead.
“Grabe man gud ang traffic sa Manila. Mag-practice mi sa buntag pero gabii na lagi mi makauli tungod sa traffic. So kapuy jud kaayo sa lawas,” said Hontiveros in a talk yesterday afternoon.
Hontiveros added that this upcoming week-long southern sojourn will not only offer them precious court time together but also an opportunity to forge an even closer bond off it.
“Yun lang talaga ang gagawin namin dito. Practice and then, bond. Parang team building na rin. We were supposed to have something like this in Turkey right before our Estonia trip pero yun nga, hindi natuloy because hindi pa kumpleto ang mga papeles namin,” added Hontiveros, whose lights-out shooting helped the Gilas overcome the Wellington Saints in the William Jones Cup in Taiwan last week.
“Pero even during the Estonia trip, even though wala mi nakadaug, nagka-ilhanay na mi ug sugod didto. Mao to medyo nindut amoang duwa sa Taiwan. So hopefully, ikagaganda ng laro namin ang pagpunta namin sa Cebu,” shared Hontiveros, who started making a name for himself here while playing for the University of Cebu and the Cebu Gems in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association.