Alas raring to show true worth

Kieffer Alas will be laser-focused when Gilas Youth struts its stuff for the FIBA U17 World Cup in Turkey from 29 June to 7 July.

Alas, who was voted as a member of the FIBA U16 Asian Championship All-Tournament Team, said he will try to do his best not to get starstrucked when the Philippines faces Spain, Lithuania and Puerto Rico in Group A.

The 17-year-old guard will be one of the pillars for the Philippines after a stellar showing in the 2024 National Basketball Training Center All-Star Game last March where scored 24 points to lead Team Hustle to a 114-106 win over Ateneo de Manila University rookie Jared Bahay and Team Heart at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“It’s a bonus that we will be facing future NBA (National Basketball Association) players but that’s not the focus right now. We just want to compete against the best of the best,” Alas said.

“I’ll use my individual awards as a confidence booster to tell myself that if I can do it here, I can do it on the world stage.”

To make sure he will be ready for the World Cup, Alas joined the Nike All-Asia Camp 2024 at the Haikou NBA Training Center in China last May where he trained with the best up-and-coming players in the region.

What motivated Alas, son of veteran coach Louie Alas and NLEX guard Kevin, also is seeing Gilas head coach Tim Cone in one of their practices and sharing his knowledge to the team.

“It felt good because Coach Tim is the head coach of our men’s team. It showed that even if we are young, there’s a plan for us when we grow older,” Alas said.

“We have the potential to make the men’s team as well and he told us even though we are one of the smallest teams in the World Cup, we can still fight.”