Lastimosa leads Alaska hoop launching

CEBUANO grassroots basketball is expected to be given a much-needed shot in the arm next year with the Alaska Basketball Cup-Cebu, which was launched yesterday noontime at Yayoy’s Grill and Restobar in barangay Capitol Site.

Top officials from Alaska Sports headed by PBA legend Jojo Lastimosa, who played his college ball here at the University of San Jose-Recoletos, and Dickie Bachmann, general manager of the Alaska Aces, spearheaded the launching. The league is being done in partnership with the Cebu Youth Basketball League through its founder, Enrico Navarro.

“I know that there’s a lot of talent here in Cebu and we want to give them the opportunity to play basketball and enhance their skills more and learn values such as teamwork, determination, discipline and hard work,” Lastimosa said.

The first conference starts on Jan. 25 at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu gym in Canduman, Mandaue City.

However, the Alaska Cup’s reach extends beyond that as they aspire to provide a year-round competition for players to develop their talents. After the first conference, a summer league will commence in April and will be followed by a developmental league for up-and-coming schools outside of the Cesafi.

“We want to give kids a platform to showcase their skills at. In the long term, we want to take the top two teams from the different cities outside of Manila and bring them to Manila to compete in a festival-type tournament,” Bachmann said.

50 teams in three divisions are expected to join the Alaska Cup. The teams will be divided according to their age group with the divisions being under-16, under-13 and under-10.

“Cebu used to be a hotbed for basketball. The Manila teams used to come here to play tune-up games against the Cebu squads. But now it’s the other way around. So we want to teach kids early which will be better for them and give them more tournaments to play in to gain more exposure. Diyan ka lang talaga gagaling ng gagaling eh. The more you play, the better you’ll become,” Lastimosa said.

The Alaska Cup will also touch down in Davao, Lucena City and Manila.  /Correspondent Jonas Panerio