DOHA: It’s not a boring and rigid training but rather a rewarding experience where Filipino children simply learnt the intricacies of the popular sports basketball with so much pleasure and delight as event dubbed “Mini Fun League” implies.

Held every weekend at the Al Gharafa Multi-Purpose Training Gym, some 30 kids aged eight years and below hurdled the 14-week exercise to include eight weeks of learning the basics of dribbling, passing and shooting the ball and six weeks of the four-team tournament that completed the once-in-a-lifetime experience initiated by Pinoy Basketball of Qatar (PIBAQ).

“The children are really having fun besides that we’d like to start them young to love the sport most Filipinos back home and elsewhere in the world really adored. Who knows, someday they would become hard court idols,” said Pat Carido, PIBAQ chairman who also heads Samahan ng Basketbol sa Pilipinas, Referees and Sports Development Program in Qatar.

PIBAQ and SBP, the basketball governing body in the Philippines, have jointly broached this program a few years back in an effort to develop young boys and girls their hidden talents in basketball through basic scientific skills training.

Over the years, the two organizing basketball bodies have hosted Under-14 and Under-18 tournaments in the same venue and proudly produced several stars in the likes of Russel Aedriane Estrope and CJ Casas and many others who are now varsity players in prestigious collegiate tournaments in Manila.

The training are manned by Carido, Francis Mercado, Ferdinand Rodiriguez, Bryan Tolentino, Willy Layag and Jojo Longalong who are already a fixture of the decade-long existence of PIBAQ, the premiere Filipino basketball league in Qatar which has been a perennial champion in the Gulf-wide all-Filipino basketball tourney.

“I am very much happy that our toddlers got the chance to be part of this rare opportunity to a well-respected training recognized by sports bodies worldwide,” said one parent, who asked not to be named.

At the end of the three and a half months training, the Mini Fun League awarded the children who excelled in the six-week tournament at the Concorde Hotel in Doha.

PIBAQ Youth Director Francis Mercado presented the kids at the awarding ceremony before Cultural Attache John Jia of the Philippine Embassy in Qatar who was the guest of honor.

Given special citations were Severino Jose P. Tamayo cited with Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the Red Team and Jacob Xavier Hortaleza, MVP for the Gray Team.

As an added treat to enhance more of their acquired skills, Filipino basketball star and coach Allan Caidic, who earned the moniker in the Philippine Basketball Association as the “Triggerman” in his heydays, will conduct a three-day Shooting Camp on July 13-15 in the same venue.

Already, some 50 kids have signified their interest to join the event as parents were willing to shell out QR 400 for the registration which include a free dry-fit Allan Caidic t-shirt.

This will be the first time that Caidic will hold an exclusive personalized tutorial to each kid and the shooting skills training forms part of his tour in other neighboring countries in the Gulf region.