The women's 3x3 national team is already over a month into their preparations for the FIBA 3x3 World Cup -- which will be held at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan June 8 to 12 -- and they're not leaving the fate of their World Cup debut to chance.
The four-women lineup went toe-to-toe with the National University men's team in a scrimmage on Thursday, and head coach Patrick Aquino definitely did not go easy on them, challenging them to be faster on offense and defense and to keep up with the pace.
"Actually the adjustment is more on conditioning and it's a much faster game than the 5-on-5 so they try to make that balance of having that conditioning and then performing," said Aquino. "It's a nonstop game, it's a faster game and mostly the transition from offense to defense is very quick."
Jack Danielle Animam said the key to the tournament is their conditioning.
"The biggest challenge here is our stamina and endurance, and how long we can last. This 3-on-3 game, even it's just 10 minutes, the speed is different. Unlike in 5-on-5, you have more teammates and have time to rest. Here you need to always have the presence of mind," said Animam. "The skills are there, that's a given. But if we don't condition our bodies properly, we'll tire easily."
Ranked 58th, the Filipinas are in for a tall order ahead as they are grouped with world number five Hungary, number six Netherlands, ranked 17th Germany and ranked 18th Spain.
But Aquino believes there's an advantage to being the underdogs.
"[The other countries] don't know how we play and they've been playing world 3-on-3 for the past few years but they haven't seen the Philippines, so that's one advantage that we have," said Aquino. "The advantage is we haven't been scouted yet also and they don't know the talent that we have also. So I think it's a great feeling, being an underdog and especially having a team like this that can perform and hopefully we can take that advantage."
He added their lineup is composed of good one-on-one players, the best players in their era: a shooter in Janine Pontejos, slashers and perimeter players in Gemma Miranda and Afril Bernardino and an inside presence in Animam.
Both Bernardino and Animam are not new to the half-court game as they reached the quarterfinals in the 2013 FIBA Asia 3x3 Under-18 Championship held in Thailand.
The national team mainstays know better than to plunge into the battle fearing the giants.
"Us, the underdog? I don't believe so because we have home court, right? Of course, a lot of Filipinos will watch and support us. We have to protect our home floor. We're the host country so we need to show the other teams how Filipinos play," said Animam.
The Philippine women's 3x3 team's first assignment in the group stages is against Netherlands on June 8 at 2:50 p.m. before taking on Germany on the same day at 6:40 p.m. They play Spain and Hungary on June 10 at 4:20 and 7 p.m., respectively.