The new league hopes to make a positive change in the lives of the youth, especially those with little to no capability to reach the national and collegiate courts.
The founders of the new basketball league, Batang Pinoy Basketball League (BPBL) admits the challenges of setting up a new national league in the shadows of towering established leagues like the UAAP, NCAA, and the PBA. However, the founders, Jun Ebdane and Ron Camara believe they are treading the right path.
Guarded with earnest and genuine inspiration to make a positive change in today’s youth, BPBL expands this year, hoping to discover potential young talents who can be future superstars in the national or even in the global courts.
Started by Ebdane and Macara in 2020, BPBL drew more than 10,000 athletes across the country to try out for the league. That number got reduced to 500, with the best of the best new young athletes tapped to go on to the next stage of the competition. On January 29, the league held its first season’s finals, declaring Davao City and Cebu City as national winners for men’s and women’s divisions, respectively. Promising names from various regions of the country were also notably named BPBL’s Mythical 5.
“Isa po kasi sa mission at vision ng BPBL: una, mabigyan namin ng opportunity ang mga kabataan na ma-expose at makilala sa larangan ng basketball,” said Ron Camara.
“Ginawa namin ‘yun para makita sila ng university coaches, collegiate coaches, at mabigyan sila ng pagkakataong makabalik sa pag-aaral… Yun ang goal namin na ‘yung mga out-of-school youth dahil hindi kayang paaralin ng mga magulang nila,pero binigyan ng talento ng Panginoon sa basketball, para magamit niya ‘yun, eh malaking bagay sa kanila ‘yun,” he added, noting the efforts of the league to draw out-of-school kids into the games, and discover future star athletes in them.
Discovering the country’s next professional basketball players isn’t the top priority. Ebdane and Macara made the record straight–the league’s utmost mission is to send today’s youth to a better and sustainable future and equip them to win inside or outside the court.
“Yung core values po na gusto naming matutunan ng mga bata sa BPBL, number one ‘yung sportsmanship,’ yung brotherhood, discipline, saka ‘yung character,” Ebdane shared,
“Hindi lang naman ito para maging pro ‘eh…Pero ang pinakagusto namin, mabago namin ‘yung ugali, like yung core values nga na pinag-uusapan natin, inside and outside the court, ” said Camara, echoing Ebdane’s sentiment.
Ebdane and Camara hope their initiative will bring out positive effects in the country’s youth, aside from making their dreams come true in court. Scouts from various national leagues graced the season finals with their presence. With that in mind, we can be [somewhat] assured that some of the season’s tar-players would end up recruited by big universities and collegiate leagues in the country.
