The Philippine national women’s team is embarking on a more aggressive recruitment of basketball talents in North America, through the Fil-Am Nation Select Basketball program.
National team head coach Pat Aquino has designated coach Cris Gopez, founder of the Fil-Am National Select, to lead the recruitment drive and coordinate the 16-under and 18-under women’s program in the U.S. and Canada.
“I’m super grateful for the opportunity and I’m looking forward to building this program with coach Pat Aquino, coach Mark, coach Julie Amos and the rest of the coaching staff. Excited to bring more medals to our country and bring a winning culture,” said Gopez in his FB post.
Fil-Am Select has also announced a series of tryouts for inclusion in the Gilas Pilipinas women’s national team on March 19 and 20 in Chicago and March 26 and 27 in Los Angeles. Registration is until Feb. 19 for the Chicago event and on Feb. 26 for LA.
This early, the Fil-Am Select program is already keeping an eye on several Fil-Am prospects, including Sydney Heyn, who plays forward for the Westview High School team in San Diego, California. Heyn is only 15 years old and stands 5’11”.
She is being compared to Pau Gasol with her soft touch from mid-range.
Heyn has recently filed for dual citizenship with the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles.
There are other prospects, who play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 schools like Kayla Padilla of Penn State U and Vanessa de Jesus of Duke University, although it’s not known if their citizenship status makes them eligible to play for Gilas in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments.
Meanwhile, the Gilas women’s squad moved several notches higher in the world rankings following a decent finish in the 2021 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup in October last year in Amman, Jordan.
The Philippines lost to the US and Australia, but a 74-70 win in the classification match over India put the Philippines at 7th place as it kept its Division A spot.
From 51st place, the Philippines is now at 43rd in the world. India was relegated to Division B.
Gilas Women is preparing for the pre-qualifying tournament of the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup in February, the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in May and the 2022 Asian Games in September.
