Staying in shape and fit for the coming 82nd University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball season is one of the goals of the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons this summer.
Gilas Pilipinas player Ricci Rivero may have sprained his ankle while competing for the national squad at the 2019 FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup qualifiers being held in Changsha, China last month.
But Rivero has managed to recover and joined two practice sessions already.
“I’m good. Everything is just in my head right now,” said Rivero yesterday when the UP Fighting Maroons got together with their supporters at the Launch Pad Bldg. in Sheridan St., Mandaluyong, where they had a contract-signing with one of the team’s new supporters this year, Paymaya.
The 6’1” Rivero, one of the two newest members of the team–the other being Kobe Paras–is expected to join the Fighting Maroons next week when they attend a two-week training camp in Las Vegas and a pocket tournament in Kaohsiung.
“We got some injuries. But they’re healing naman. And we’re in the homestretch of our participation in the summer leagues. Matatapos na rin and now we are ready for Las Vegas,” said UP assistant coach Ricky Dandan, who spoke on behalf of coach Bo Perasol.
The Fighting Maroons’ exposures abroad will be done to help them get sharper and in shape when the coming UAAP cagefest gets under way this September.
After reaching the finals of the 81st season last year against the Ateneo Blue Eagles, the Fighting Maroons are gearing for a return trip to the finals this season.
Their two-week visit to the Joe Abunassar camp in Las Vegas is expected to happen in the second week of June.
The team leaves on June 14.
The Maroons are hoping that Cameroonian big man Bright Akhuetie will be able to join them once he gets his visa requirements done.
A weeklong cagefest is set this July in Taiwan for the Fighting Maroons. They also hope to be in Europe, if possible, for another camp in Serbia this August.
Back injuries have been bugging Akhuetie, Juan Gomez de Liano and Paras during the summer.
The team has not been together with most members during practices due to summer classes and other school activities.
Paymaya Philippines, through its founder and CEO Orlando Vea, signed a partnership deal with team management, led by Atty. Agaton Uvero, who leads the Nowhere to Go But Up group; UP College of Human Kinetics Dean Francisco Diaz; and UP Chancellor Danny Concepcion.
“This is an opportunity for broader collaboration towards a digital UP,” said Vea, an alumnus who wrote about the exploits of the Fighting Maroons back in his high school days when he was the sports editor of the school paper.
Last month, new supporters Palawan Pawnshop and Express Padala came aboard to help the team.