WNBA Champion Sabrina Ionescu is in the Philippines as part of her brand tour, and part of her activities is interacting with young local hoopers in multiple camps.
You can be what you can see.
That is the age old phrase that we often hear, especially in sports, where people struggle to dream of being in a position where they don’t see themselves in — either in opportunities or when it comes to role models.
But for the new generation of Filipino basketball players, there has been no shortage of both.
With the emergence of social media and technology, there are a lot of ways that young athletes can now see themselves in stages that they’ve never been before.
Among those athletes is WNBA and Olympic champion Sabrina Ionescu, who is currently in the Philippines for a 3-day tour with sports brand Nike.
[READ: WNBA champion Sabrina Ionescu revels in support from Filipino fans during Manila visit]
For Day 1, Ionescu joined a panel talk which was also attended by PBA Finals-bound LA Tenorio of Ginebra, where he talked about the impact of having a player like Ionescu visit the Philippines and mingle with younger players.
“It’s really important, [these type of events], especially for the aspiring basketball players to see athletes, especially NBA, WNBA players like Sabrina. It’s very important because they, as young players, they can get the motivation or inspiration from them,” said Tenorio at Nike The Fort.
“[They can look at] the way they talk, the way how they handle pressure, also the way how they work hard and to have that, just like Kobe Bryant always said, Mamba Mentality,” he added.
Being among the older players in the country, Tenorio said that being exposed to high-level athletes so early in their lives is a blessing, which personally Tenorio wasn’t able to enjoy. But now with a different perspective on things,
Tenorio believes it is something that will help the next generation.
“The young kids can adapt also, so it’s very important and I think nowadays, the young players are very very lucky to see a lot of international athletes coming here, especially here in Manila, because during our time, there’s no international athlete coming here,” said Tenorio.
“Just to have the time to be with them, to interact with them… It’s a great opportunity.”
Apart from the panel talk on Monday, Ionescu also rubbed shoulders with the local basketball community with a skills camp at Nike Courtyard where she also met some women’s basketball players in the country.
Ionescu is slated to have two more days of activities in Manila as her first stop in her Asia tour during the WNBA offseason.