Tags: Basketball, Sports Activities and Competition
By Anna Valmero
PASAY CITY, METRO MANILA—Conditioning and continuous training should be the top priority of young Filipino athletes if they want to compete to the highest level, according to Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
Spoelstra, the first Filipino-American head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), adds that the best conditioned athletes and teams often have the best chances to win.
“For our players to compete at their optimal level, conditioning is where it starts followed by weight training and nutrition,” says Spoelstra, whose Filipino mother is from San Pablo, Laguna.
Spoelstra is in the country to lead a series of fitness programs in Metro Manila under the “NBA Fit” initiative.
A former basketball player himself back in college, Spoelstra joined the Miami Heat organization as a video coordinator and rose from the ranks until he became head coach of the team in 2008.
He gained a strong reputation as a teacher after honing players such as guard Dwyane Wade and new draftees.
Spoelstra noted that Miami mandates all players to undergo a stringent annual physical exam for at least six to eight weeks.
But more than that, education of players on the importance of a healthy lifestyle, he says.
“It is a tough test that they have to train for, at least 6-8 weeks. On top of that, we educate players to keep their bodies healthy, strong and ready to endure 82 games scheduled every year.”
Spoelstra says he wants to impart his advocacy for conditioning and proper nutrition to up-and-coming Filipino athletes.
“Basketball is global now and have been very good to me. Now, it is an opportunity for us to give back and to teach at the grassroots some of the lessons we learned at the highest level at NBA. It is an opportunity to encourage people to have a healthy lifestyle because we are coaches and that is what we do,” he adds.
Personally, Spoelstra follows a balanced lifestyle with exercise and diet to “cope with stresses form the job.”
“Running is like a personal escape for me. It is one of many things I turn to keep my mind fresh and my body right; and if I don’t eat well, I notice that my concentration level is not right,” he adds.
Dr. Mario Capazana, director of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), says the initiative of NBA Fit initiative is timely after studies showed that an increasing number of school children and adults were “obese.”
At least two percent of the population of children aged under six years old are overweight along with adolescents; 22 percent of adults in the country are overweight, noted Capazana.
Aside from health benefits, sports could also be used as an agent of social change in the country, says Dr. Vanessa Tobin, representative of the United Nation’s Children Fund (Unicef).
“Sports is associated with hope and optimism and I hope through efforts like this, we will not deprive the youth of this optimism,” says Tobin.
For more info, check out the NBA Fitness website
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