LA Tenorio will be marking his Gilas Pilipinas Youth head coaching debut later this month as he leads the squad in the FIBA U16 Asia Cup SEABA Qualifiers 2025. Although there’s always pressure in the role, Tenorio won’t carry it alone as he has surrounded himself with trusted coaches to help him out.

Sharing the bench with Tenorio are his Barangay Ginebra assistant coach Richard Del Rosario and long-time Gilas teammate Gabe Norwood.

“The raw desire and energy of these kids every day is infectious,” said Del Rosario after the pool’s practice at the PhilSports Arena. “They are really hungry to prove themselves, and they want to create their own path in the sport of basketball.”

Del Rosario’s chemistry with Tenorio is unquestionable. They share an assistant coach and player bond in Ginebra but have also shared the bench as fellow assistants under head coach Tim Cone. Now, it’s Tenorio’s turn to take the lead, and he has a trusted ally beside him. However, this is the youngest team that Del Rosario will handle, much younger than the collegiate players he coached in the College of St. Benilde a decade ago.

“The willingness to learn is there. Sometimes, of course, their youthful exuberance takes over and you need to control it a bit,” he shared.

“We’re always in teaching mode. Things that may seem easy at the college or professional level are not automatic to them yet, so you have to start from level one and try to teach them.”

With the 18 players in the pool coming from very different programs and backgrounds, key to coaching them is making them buy into committing to the needs of the squad they are trying to build.

“We have to accept that they are being taught different things by their coaches. We’re not saying that what we’re doing is necessarily better than what they do with their own teams but we want them to learn basketball as we need it to build this team,” he stated. “We need everybody to be on the same page.”

Del Rosario added that although Gilas and Barangay Ginebra head coach Cone did not force them to use the Triangle System on offense, he requested they teach the same defense to bridge the two programs.

“We want to be consistent in concepts and the teaching of the defense. When LA talked to coach Tim, they agreed that LA can do whatever he wants offensively, but as much as possible, we need to teach the same as Gilas Men on defense,” he said.

“That’s part of the development of the program, so when these kids have the opportunity to play for the Men’s team, then it’ll be easier for them to understand.”

Del Rosario often works with the bigs in the team and this early, he’s already seeing great signs in a lot of them.

“Prince Carino and Jhello Lumague have good potential. Even our other players like Rayven Restificar, who may not be as skilled as our other bigs, but plays with great energy. He’s a gamer. He may not be spectacular in practice, but he always shows up in our tuneup games.”

Norwood, for his part, is also getting his feet wet in coaching even as he still plays for the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. He, however, has experience handling athletes at this age as his kids are about the same age as the Gilas pool members.

“This is awesome for me. This is one of the few days when my eldest two sons are not here with me. More often than not, they are here. They see the program, they see faces familiar to them,” Norwood shared.

“It’s pretty cool to see the growth of the game and see the talent that we have across the board. We started with a hundred players and narrowed it down to 18 now. The amount of work they put in, balancing school, balancing their own club and school teams that they play for, it’s a pleasure to be able to work with them.”

Norwood, who honed his skills in the United States before finding his way to the Philippines, found the talent they have to be impressive even at this age level.

“The skill level now with these kids is much higher. You have guys who can make every move, make every shot. Now it’s a matter for us coaches to get the details right, get the scenario situations, and help them with their decision making.

But in terms of talent, it’s all here.”

When Del Rosario goes to the bigs in breakouts during practice, Norwood spends more time with the guards, so he’s had a lot of time to assess their players.

“I don’t know if I can single one out, across the board we have a good mix,” he said when asked which players will shine the the upcoming tournament.

“You have a guy like Andwele Cabanero who’s super aggressive with the ball and attack, then you have Ethan Tan-Chi who’s so steady and can shoot the ball for us. CP Miranda can also play. I can go down the list. It’s really cool to see the variety that we have.”

Gilas Pilipinas Youth is winding down their preparations before traveling to the City of San Fernando, Pampanga to go up against some of the Southeast Asian region’s best young ballers. With tickets to the FIBA U16 Asia Cup in Mongolia up for grabs, expect the Filipino youngsters to battle with all their heart, aided by the coaches who are doing their best to help them achieve their full potential.