As the clock reaches zero, the players head to the bench wiping the sweat from their heads and slowly regain composure. After every timeout, every quarter, and every game, all the players huddle together with their hands in middle and yell their motto as they break away.
Through the hard work in practices to competing at a high level in organized competitive games, team cohesion and the trust of one another build the foundation to be successful in playing organized basketball.
Basketball is more than a sport that teaches fundamentals, it is an outlet where newcomers can learn valuable life lessons to advance players learning how to become leaders and the best place to start is an organization that emphasizes on those aspects.
Nothing But Net Guam (NBNG) is a basketball youth organization that launched in March 2016.
Founder and owner Josh Torres continues to build on the program by hiring two highly experienced coaches Mark Tandoc and Tony Taianao to help lead the way in running the programs offered.
“The organization is for the community to provide the opportunity for kids to build on their skills,” Tandoc said. “It also allows them to gain more experience in live game situations as they play in competitive leagues.”
NBNG holds camps every summer and during breaks the Guam Department of Education schedules. The program runs a variety of sessions and accepts players as young as four to 18-year-olds and is conveniently located in the basketball gyms at Agat and Yigo.
Players joining NBNG can expect to learn the basic basketball fundamentals from offensive to defensive skills.
“A typical day in camp is the players participates in drills to develop individual skills in the morning,” Taianao said. “In the afternoon we run deliberate games from one on one to five on five to develop teamwork and build confidence within themselves and each other.”
The coaching staff has over 20 years in coaching experience combined and their passion for the game goes beyond basketball.
“We try inspire the youth to learn how to be discipline,” Torres said. “We teach good values and morals through sports by developing them to go as far as they want to go.”
Leaning values
The values the players learn in NBNG helps shape their character on and off the court.
“We are teaching them to trust each other, to trust in themselves, to trust the coaches and everything will fall into place just as long as they put the work in,” Taianao said. “We focus on developing the player’s basketball IQ to show the game of basketball is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.”
The coaches are like-minded who emphasis the fundamentals of basketball and the values the players can develop. The values the players learn gives them confidence to communicate as a leader and positively build on their characteristics.
While participating in practices and playing in competitive games, being at a certain physical level is important, however, coach Taianao emphasis that the players should be as mentally prepared.
“The players can break the defense easily by making the right pass and making the right decision by hitting their teammate in stride as oppose to giving the ball behind their back,” Taianao said. “They have to be smart, be trustworthy, and be selfless.”
Being involved in basketball allows the players to stay consistently active. “We try to prevent them from learning unfavorable habits, for instance, playing video games,” Tandoc said. “This program helps them stay active, set personal goals, and teaches them how to develop a work ethic to achieve their goals.”