Ex-NU “import” finds new calling in coaching
Ever wondered what happens to African players who come over to play collegiate ball after they leave the country? At least one of them has decided to take on a new challenge.
Joseph Nlepe-Nlepe was supposed to be the next big African star in the UAAP. Recruited by National University four years ago, the six-six Cameroonian patiently waited for two years for his chance to strut his stuff on the hardcourt and provide an impact for the Bulldogs. But things didn't quite turn out as planned, and Joe, as he is called, found himself leaving the Philippines without even playing a single minute in the UAAP.
Earlier this week, Nlepe-Nelpe was back in Manila, but for a different reason. He was one of over 30 aspiring basketball coaches who attended a three-day coaching clinic, which he hopes will help him in his new job as the head coach of an international high school in Bangkok, Thailand.
"I used to play in the Philippines like three years ago," Joe said. "I didn't reach my goal. I had some problems with my knees and the school that I played for."
Nlepe-Nlepe was recruited by then NU coach Manny Dandan at the height of the let's-recruit-an-African-import movement that was sweeping the local collegiate scene. The San Beda Red Lions triggered this mass recruitment of African players, after the original African import, Sam Ekwe, helped lead the Red Lions to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007.
Nlepe-Nlepe was supposed to be the Ekwe of NU. At a chiseled six-foot-six, he was quick, agile and had better fundamentals than Ekwe did when he first arrived. He joined another African player, Emmanuel Mbe, on the Bulldogs' line-up, and both served their residency requirements at the same time. They were scheduled to debut together in 2010 to form a potent frontline rotation for the Bulldogs, who were set to become the first collegiate team in the country to field two African players in the same season.
But at the last minute, Joe encountered problems with his eligibility requirements, and in the end only Mbe was able to play. His two years of serving residency gone to waste, he packed his bags and headed for Thailand, where someone tipped him off about a coaching vacancy at Traill International School, a British school based in Bangkok. His interest piqued, Nlepe-Nlepe decided to give it a try, even though basketball is hardly the most popular sport in Thailand, where soccer is the undisputed king.
Fast forward to today, and Joe is now the head coach of the junior varsity of Traill, where he coaches a bunch of precocious teenagers. So far, though, it's been a satisfying experience, and Nlepe-Nlepe believes he has found his true calling.
"I like it," he said. "I'm improving. Last year we got second place, and then this year we got [to be] thenumber one junior high school in Thailand. That's a big thing. For now, I just want to improve my coaching skills. I came back here because I know the Philippines has a lot of great basketball coaches. Norman Black, Eric Altamirano, Ricky Dandan, all of those people. So I think I will learn a lot."
Nlepe-Nlepe, who found out about the coaching clinic while scouring for news on the UAAP and NCAA on the Net, said Black's lecture on defending the pick and roll was pretty interesting, as was Jamike Jarin's blocker/mover offense session.
"We had a great time and we learned a lot," he said. "All the coaches were really good."
Joe says he is having loads of fun coaching junior players, and feels coaching is what he was meant to do. Down the road he hopes to coach professionally, but for now, the challenge of coaching young kids in a country where basketball isn't exactly a priority sport is perhaps a good situation for an aspiring coach like him, for it requires Jo to make the most out of what he has. For one thing, he can't conduct practice as often as he wants, something he needed to get used to at first after coming from a basketball culture here where teams practice almost every day.
"You really work hard here (in the Philippines) every day. But you have to cut your work in Thailand, especially in an international school. [Practice is] three times a week or four times a week. We have a lot of breaks."
E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com. Twitter: @Sid_Ventura
