WITH less than a month left before the opening of its maiden
season later this month, member teams of the Liga Pilipinas have intensified
their pre-season preparations for the unique home-and-away tournament format.
Because of league rules requiring a 14-man line up of at
least eight homegrown talents, founding member teams are conducting various
tryouts all over the country to come up with competitive rosters in the
community-based league.
Homegrown talents are players who were either born or have
known lineage in the region or province of the home team or are actual residents
in the region or province for at least one year.
"Part of the objectives of the eligibility rules of Liga is
to discover and provide opportunities to new and young basketball talents in the
countryside. As such we have encouraged the member teams to really go into the
grassroots by conducting tryouts to look for these homegrown players," said
Technical Group Head Perry Martinez.
Liga member teams Pampanga, Ilocos, Zamboanga, Bacolod,
Batangas, and Rizal are among those that have intensified their respective
practices and tryouts. Some teams have also started accepting fil-foreign
players who want to represent their respective provinces and provide added flare
and competitiveness to Liga teams.
"These are exciting times for Liga. It’s a joy to see the various communities
working together to ensure the pride and passion of their provinces or cities
are defended in the hard court through their support of their home teams," Liga
Pilipinas President Noli Eala said.
