Go Basket Philippines is a Goducate program in the Philippines that seeks to draw youths away from undesirable influences. Dabbling in illegal drugs is one of such influences. Go Basket Philippines thus helps the Philippines government’s efforts to promote sports among youths as a means of eradicating drug addiction. The government’s tagline for its efforts is “Bola Hindi Droga”, which literally translates to “Ball not Drugs”.
Go Basket Philippines has been building partnerships with different barangays (villages), Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) and Barangay Captains. It has been conducting free basketball clinics in the barangays, at which participants are taught not only basketball but also good values such as discipline, teamwork, punctuality, etc. Some participants are also trained to be coaches.
Recently, Go Basket Philippines ran two basketball tournaments. The first, a knockout tournament, held on Feb 2-3, was a 3×3 Challenge. The 24 participating teams came from different municipalities of the province of Iloilo. The 3×3 format of basketball is a much trimmed version of the traditional game, with 3 players on each side, and the game is played on half a court, with a ball that is different from the traditional ball, and with its own rules.
On Feb 9, Go Basket Philippines ran a league, with games played according to the traditional format. 8 teams took part.
Both tournaments enabled players, who had received training from Go Basket Philippines, to meet others who had also received such training. Some of the teams that took part had been formed by those who had been trained by Go Basket Philippines to be coaches. This is an example of how Goducate likes its programs to work—whereby those who have been trained by Goducate go on to train others.
*Our guest writer is Carmela Damaso, a staff member at the Goducate Training Center in Iloilo.