On March 25, 2012 at about 7pm, after 112 hours and 13 seconds of playing basketball, the Missouri Athletic Center bagged the record for the longest basketball marathon thus far. The final score from twenty-four participating players: 11,806 by Team Joplin against 11,620 by Team St.Louis.
This 2014, the Philippines, through the leadership of the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas, will attempt to break the record. Will Filipino cagers be able to surpass the record of the Missouri ballers?
Hopes are high, considering that the sport is very close to the hearts of millions of Filipinos. Two tryouts have been scheduled. The first batch of hopefuls proved their mettle last December 7, 2013 at the Rizal Technological University Gymnasium in Mandaluyong City. The second round is scheduled this January 18, 2014. If you are interested to try your luck for the second batch, you may register online here. You may also check the Facebook page for this momentous event.
Sounds easy? Not quite. This isn't just a simple shoot fest for as many days as the players can while enjoying the luxury of rest in the interim. There are game rules. The game should be continuous, which means the default rotation that can be done is to have six players on the court every three or four hours for each team while the other six take their short rest -- all these while having to squeeze in time for eating and your other basic life routine. No player is allowed to leave the court or gym premises while the game is still in play, which means they have to eat and sleep in courtside or pitchside. Fouls revert to zero every two hours, which means that if a player fouls out within two hours he can no longer participate, thus making it harder for his teammates to fill-in the hours with one substitution less.
But if the peeps over at Missouri were able to ball that long in the toughest of conditions, there's no reason to say that the Filipino ballers can't make it. With the support from private sponsors and the rest of the basketball community, another page of our basketball history may soon be written. For now, we wait for March 24.
This 2014, the Philippines, through the leadership of the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas, will attempt to break the record. Will Filipino cagers be able to surpass the record of the Missouri ballers?
Hopes are high, considering that the sport is very close to the hearts of millions of Filipinos. Two tryouts have been scheduled. The first batch of hopefuls proved their mettle last December 7, 2013 at the Rizal Technological University Gymnasium in Mandaluyong City. The second round is scheduled this January 18, 2014. If you are interested to try your luck for the second batch, you may register online here. You may also check the Facebook page for this momentous event.
Sounds easy? Not quite. This isn't just a simple shoot fest for as many days as the players can while enjoying the luxury of rest in the interim. There are game rules. The game should be continuous, which means the default rotation that can be done is to have six players on the court every three or four hours for each team while the other six take their short rest -- all these while having to squeeze in time for eating and your other basic life routine. No player is allowed to leave the court or gym premises while the game is still in play, which means they have to eat and sleep in courtside or pitchside. Fouls revert to zero every two hours, which means that if a player fouls out within two hours he can no longer participate, thus making it harder for his teammates to fill-in the hours with one substitution less.
But if the peeps over at Missouri were able to ball that long in the toughest of conditions, there's no reason to say that the Filipino ballers can't make it. With the support from private sponsors and the rest of the basketball community, another page of our basketball history may soon be written. For now, we wait for March 24.
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