It’s an annual tradition that’s consistently paid dividends for them, so once again the UP Fighting Maroons will be setting up training camp in Serbia.
If there is one thing that has been constant over the last several years in the UAAP preseason preparations of the UP Fighting Maroons men’s basketball team, it’s their annual trip to Serbia for an intense training camp.
The results suggest the trips are worth it. Since 2018, or UAAP Season 81, the Fighting Maroons have advanced to the finals five times, winning it all twice including last season.
For UP Office for Athletics and Sports Development head Bo Perasol, there is no reason to mess with a good thing, which is why the team is headed back to Serbia for another round of exposure to some of the best basketball training in the world.
“The main thing about our Serbian camp is that it gives us another aspect of the game,” Perasol said Saturday during the official contract signing between the Fighting Maroons and Puma Philippines where the latter was officially designated as the team’s official outfitter for the next three years.
“You know how small a country Serbia is, but how a powerhouse they are in as far as basketball. And not only basketball, but as far as all the other sports are concerned. You can see how serious they are in what they do.”
Indeed, Serbia has a population of only 6.6 million, but their basketball program has consistently performed at a high level in international competitions and produced the likes of three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. Their approach to and passion for the game of basketball are unparalleled, traits that Perasol is hoping to incorporate into the Fighting Maroons’ mindsets as they attempt to go back-to-back.
“That’s what we want to imbibe also as players. There are a lot of times that you’ll be surprised in how they train their players. But I think the most important thing that our players and team get there is that they’re just oblivious to fatigue and adversity.
“When it happens, you can see in their team firsthand how they deal with that by just playing all throughout the game. We’ve gone to Serbia every year for the last five, six years. We always do this. This is always our first training camp. It sets the tone. It sets the mood of everybody that, hey, we are here.”
“We are going to achieve anything that we want, but we need to work hard for that. Because that is the lesson that we take away from Serbia every time.”
The trip itself is long and tiring, but in the end Perasol firmly believes it is worth it.
“It’s a long flight to Eastern Europe. But apart from also playing, it’s an opportunity for them to bond together. Malaking bagay. Especially since they’re in a country na iba dito sa Pilipinas.”
UP center Gani Stevens, who will be counted on more this year to man the paint with the graduation of Quentin Millora-Brown, will be going on his third trip to Serbia. He says he learns something new each time because the quality of teaching is just superb.
“What I get out of Serbia is, first of all, the coaching style over there, it’s very tough,” he told The GAME. “It’s very like hard-nosed coaching, you know, playing physical, not only like just physicality, but also like mentally, and then a lot of the actions in Serbia, they have big men that can shoot, that can cut off the ball, that can move, so this helps me expand my game a little bit. But really that physicality standpoint, and then the IQ over there is definitely higher, so that’s what I definitely like about Serbia.”
Banner images by Sid Ventura