National Basketball Training Center Philippines

Yesterday we played our final game for our 2016-2017 SM-MVP NBTC North-East Cavite.  We played two games within four hours, first and last game. In the first game, we played against one of the strongest team in Cavite, University of Perpetual Help-Molino. Coach Rodney of UPH-M was "sports" enough to give leniency to my players did not ask his team to play to the fullest. Even with this approach, wwe lost by more than thirty points. In the second game, we were up against a team that boasts of big, wide-bodied grade 11's. We were down the whole game but miraculously, in the last 25 seconds of the game with the ball possession on my team, we had a shot but due to the inexperience of my team, including me, we took an early 3-pointer and didn't go in.

At the end of the game we lost by only five points.

My team played and fight till the end. I asked my team to give each other a round of applause, something the crowd were not expecting. I asked them two questions which everyone answered with an affirmative. One was "Did you give your best in the game?" and the last one was "Do you now believe you can play better than you think you can?"

This is the reason why I've been a sports coach in the last sixteen years. This is the reason why I chose to stay in this country instead of teaching special education in the US of A.

I finished BS in Occupational Therapy in college, completed my academic requirements in Special Education from De La Salle University-Manila. Have taught from kinder to college too but mostly, I've been teaching in the international schools here in the Philippines.

All this time, I have seen the power of sports as a learning and teaching tool that attracts students of all abilities. For you to understand the power of sports among the students, this is one question I always get from the teachers and school administrators: "Coach, how could these boys be so focused, motivated and happy training and playing while in the classrooms they're a different person?"

And my answer is always about them and the sports: "I can never force anyone to play the game or attend a grueling 3-hour training. They are here because they want to, they are here because they can see their value in the team and among their peers."

This year, I excluded my seniors (10th graders) and fielded in eight middle school students (7th and 8th graders) and seven 9th graders. This group of fourteen to fifteen year olds fought against teams which boasts of full athletic scholarships including board and lodging and several year-round tournaments.

Following the founders' principle behind NBTC, Coach Eric Altamirano and Coach Alex Compton's vision of providing a grassroots basketball tournaments, I wish I could reach out to more students and give them opportunities in life thru sports, thru basketball. I wish I could stay healthy and live longer as I travel this journey of teaching, coaching and learning. I pray too that more school administrators and teachers realize the true value of sports in developing the youth and at the same time benefiting this country of mine.

This year, I ended my NBTC tournament with zero wins and three losses. This year I also saw how terrible the effects are on a basketball program if the school administrators sees sports more of an expense than a tool to help develop students. Having shared these to you my readers, I would also like to share that no matter what is thrown at you, as long as you hold on to the reason why your into youth basketball as a coach, as a parent coach and as a volunteer trainer, all these problems are just a stepping stone to bring you to a place where changing the lives of your students for better is a given. Thanks to Coaches Eric E and Alex C! Thanks to our Cavite Head Macky Torres and our area head Alvin Guadines. Special mention to Coach Jun of CVS. Thanks too all the coaches who pushes me hard by trying to beat my teams all the time.

And with that I say goodbye for now NBTC! See you next season.

Coach Francis

Chess: Reminders for the Tactical Warriors to Be

After a long post on the Study Plan for Chess Students, I felt like sharing a couple of diagrams to show you what I meant. But knowing how rich the Internet is for chess literature and resources, I felt it would be better to share websites that offer training on the said topic: Tactics.

Here they are:

1. Introduction to Chess Tactics
2. Chess Tempo
3. Chess Tactics Server
4. Red Hot Pawn

You can also look for paid resources and one of the best sites for chess training is ICC or the Internet Chess Club. It is the place to be for all chess-related needs, for a fee.

Here's one paid site that I feel should be promoted because I have found the resources  and content to be very useful for my chess teaching: Professor Chess.

Go happy finding those tactics!

Study Plan for Chess Students

So much has been written and said about the 'right" approach for learning chess and not one is completely wrong but most are not completely right either. Because of several factors that play in the learning process, the right approach would always be the hit-and-miss for the completely isolated, self-study chess beginner. The single most commonly forgotten factor when we talk about these so-called study plans for chess students is of course this --> Human factor.

I advise you to visit and read through the following links: Chess Study Plan from CHESSDOTCOM, Confessions of a Chess Novice and Dan Heisman's Get Better at Chess.

What are the commonalities from these programs? Can you find the 'em? Then let me know by writing your comments on the comment section of this blog.

But here are my thoughts for the title of this post:

1. Keep playing and NEVER RESIGN from any game. Just like any endeavor, sports, academics, music, arts and other sort of stuff, you need to immerse yourself in your pursuit. One caveat: know when to rest.

2. Tactics, tactics and more tactics.  Chess is a strategy game and with strategy comes tactics. The Internet has so much to give for free when it comes to practicing and improving your tactical abilities. Solve puzzles at least 30 minutes a day.

3. Work on simple and basic Endgame study. Start with your K and Q checkmate, move up to K and R checkmate and continue on to other k plus other pieces combination. Its interesting to note that the K+ B+N checkmating practice never cease to give me headaches. Try it for yourself.

4. Annotate your games. Having said that, it means you have to notate your long games, review them and replay them. Postmortem so to speak.

5. Limit your games to long games, 60/G would be a great starter for this gives you the chance to adhere to Richard James important reminders. In his book  called School Lessons Volume 1 he shared the following "what-to-look-for-when-its-your-turn-to-move:

Checkmates

Checks

Captures

If on your move you could not find any of those three ideas mentioned above, you can do the look for the following:

Threats

Development

Center Control

And always, you should be looking out for two things:

Your King Safety

Attacking your Opponent's King

I hope this helps even for a bit and I wish you keep pushing those pawns all the way to your cherished dream of  chess domination.

Chess Endgame: Hunting for the Win

Here's another post on chess, tactical exercises for finding checkmates. The diagram below asks you to find the mate in 3 with Black to move.
























This one: look for Mate in 2 with White to move first:

 

Whatya' think Mike?

Chess Tactics Guide: The Fork

The Fork is a tactic where a single piece makes two or more direct attacks at the same time. It is what I call hitting two birds (sometimes more) with 1 stone.Oftentimes, two pieces are threatened which is why it is also known as double attack. A successful fork usually gives the attacking player a gain in material by capturing one of the opponent's pieces. Because of its nature, the defender has difficulty countering such attack.

 You can look into the following examples at Chess Tactics Guide: The Fork and Chess for Novices.