Gilas Pilipinas: FIBA 2014 Winningest Losers

FIBA (Fédération Internationale de Basketball) Basketball World Cup 2014 welcomes the special return of the Philippines to the international court of basketball after forty years.
Their feat: 1 win in 5 games with three “almost” wins and just one sure loss.

Rewards

There is no doubt Gilas Pilipinas won our hearts after all their fierce games against taller, experienced, well-supported and trained players of Greece, Puerto Rico, Croatia, Argentina and Senegal. International expression of admiration poured in as well. There’s recognition of the Filipino skill and the disappointment that the team is out of the tournament. We hear “More!” alongside “More Practice!”

 

Pattern?

First and second quarter dominance to third quarter ties and finally last quarter losses. Culturally, we have the trait called ningas-cogon which means brilliant start with discouraging end. There are two major lessons to learn from this predicament:

• We need to prepare to the point of ensuring we shall win.
• We need money to do the above.

 

Sounds Familiar

In a lot of ways the Gilas moment mirrors our national identity. The Marcos era started as glorious to us and it ended tragically. People Power brought us new hope which is now confusingly lost on us. The Benigno Aquino III term is ending with Tuwid na Daan still to become convincing. Why do we keep losing our initial gains?

 

Individual Skill and Teamwork

It is now evident that Gilas members are skilled individual players. They brought that skill to the hilt during the games. Are they team players as well? Again, yes. Yet the max proved to be not enough. This means more training and more competition. For a returning team, though, it was all worth the try. They have become and are the winningest loser in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014.

Remember, as Aristotle said:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”