Congratulations to the Kampi East team for winning the Milan tournament May 2011.

Story taken from here...  http://kampi.co.uk/news.html

MILAN, Italy It was worth the trip to Milan for the London Kampi team, as it bagged the trophy and the EUR 1,000 cash prize in the recently concluded one-day basketball and volleyball tournament here.

Guest KAMPI/SAFE, otherwise known as Kapisanan ng Manlalarong Pilipino sa Inglatera/ Sports Association of Filipinos in England, defeated Milan's JSL team in the championship clash.

The powerful and confident KAMPI team dropped JSL by quickly scoring 30 points in the first half en route to a 71-41 win.

Milano Green Lizards team took home the 3rd prize.

Orvie Vidad was chosen as the tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Best Coach awardee Mark Ordoña spoke well of his teams performance.

Im proud of my boys, Im proud of my boys, they played most as a team and they deserved to be here, they made my job easy, these boys, these capable boys they gave them all and I am proud of each one of them he said.

KAMPIs Acting Chairman Oscar Santiago expressed pride for association.

Ngayon, natupad na ang isa sa mga pangarap ng organization namin. Sa loob ng 20-taon, ipinagdiwang namin ang aming anibersaryo sa labas ng London upang makakilala ng mahigit pang maraming Pilipino. Kaya sa mga taga Italya, maraming-maraming sa inyo!

For other teams, however, joining the league means exposure. They also get to know other sports communities.

Para lang ma-explore yun pangalan ng Filcom Parma and then ma explore natin yun mga bata sa event ng mga sports and para ma explore din ang iba pang mga proyekto na posibleng maibigay sa mga bata at sa mga kababayan natin sa Parma, Sander Panaligan, adviser of Filipino Community of Parma, Italy, said.

Meanwhile, Milans B-Drine bagged top place in womens volleyball. It won against Torinos Black team, 3-0.

The third prize went to Milano-FASA team.

The one-day basketball-volleyball league was participated by teams from London, Parma, Bologna, Torino, and Milano.

Milan TOurnament

by Kirt 'Banj' Abeleda

Sunday 24th April 2011 -- A historic weekend took place this Easter for Filipino-British basketball as a KAMPI-led selection of London's finest joined forces to form a super team to compete in the prestigious Milan annual one day tournament. The selection was approved by Kampi organizer Ed Caparros.

The basketball marathon tournament was held on Easter Sunday as the KAMPI select team made up of representatives from last season's Kampi League - based in East London - teams competed in their first ever overseas tournament in Italy. The basketball tournament was held in Pero, the suburbs of Milan, Italy.

The travelling team were headlined by representatives from Kampi defending champions Sunics (3 players, including Mark Ordoña). There were also representatives from Northgate (2), Given (1) and Controllers (5). The first ever Kampi select team's foundation was built around a youthful, enthusiastic and talented group - holding an average age of just 25 years of age.

Sunics Veteran point guard Mark Ordoñ a unfortunately went down with a shoulder injury prior to the tournament and was diagnosed as inactive. However, Mr. Caparros offered Mark Ordoña the role as the Kampi Select team's first ever head coach. Ordoña's first move as head coach was to appoint club captains Bing Vidad of Sunics and Ryan Abeleda of Controllers as co-captains of the squad.

Mr. Caparros chose not to fill the 12th roster spot opened up by Ordoña and travelled with the existing 11 active players.

Banj Abeleda (Guard / Controllers)
Ryan Abeleda (Forward / Controllers)
John de La Cruz (Forward / Sunics)
Chris East (Centre / Controllers)
Karl Pangisban (Forward / Controllers)
JJ 'Kwikz' Rizal-Salonga (Guard / Controllers)
Josh Sabado (Centre / Sunics)
Noel Santos (Guard / Given)
DJ Sayson (Guard / Northgate)
Chris 'Chile' Tordecilla (Forward / Northgate)
Orvie 'Bing' Vidad (Forward / Sunics)

The pre tournament build up signalled The Kampi select team - or London - as underdogs because of their youthful age and undersized roster. Playing by regulation FIBA rules and a house rule of 15 minute halves the young men immediately had to adjust. Each team competed with two other teams in two pools in a round robin format. London competed in the group stages with Manila Hoops (Bologna) and Lizards (Milan) with the winner and runner up of each group advancing to the semi finals.

London opened up with a convincing two wins in the preliminaries versus Manila hoops (Bologna) and Lizards (Milan), displaying a fast paced offence and tenacious defence as they raced through to the final fours and managed to inherit admirers within the Italian crowd. The Lizards (Milan) were the pre-tournament title favourite as they boasted two former PBA prospects and a lengthy line front court. The London team struggled early and could not cope with the inside scoring of the Lizards front court as they bullied their way in and dominated in the paint. However, London still found a way to pull away behind great shooting and showed their intent with a dominant second half defensive effort.

All 11 players managed to play significant minutes as rookie coach Mark Ordoña displayed his confidence in his deep roster and played a consistent 11 man rotation throughout the gruelling one day tournament.

Topping the group B, London faced off against The Strangers of Parma and dominated from start to finish behind an impressive 1-2-2 zone press and turned in for easy baskets. London's dominance in the preliminaries and blowout of pre-tournament favourites Strangers (Parma) reversed them from likeable underdogs to confident favourites for the title.

"The atmosphere is absolutely buzzing right now. I'm proud we've reached the championship game" said co captain Ryan Abeleda " Now we need to finish the job we came out to do when we were chosen to represent Kampi. We are going to leave everything on the court."

The championship game saw a fresh and rested London team compete against a drained JSL team coming off a double overtime semi final game versus the Lizards in the opposite semi final bracket. London were expected to roll to an immediate blowout however, JSL managed to hold their own against London in the first half as London started lethargically and JSL went into the half trailing by only 5 after a flurry of threes and overwhelming support from a raucous home crowd.

However, London responded immediately in the final 15 minutes and switched to a 3-2 zone and managed to contain the inside scoring of the frontcourt and forced a weary home team to shoot long jump shots and shoot themselves out of an upset as the London team pulled away and complete a dominant tournament performance with a 71-41 championship victory.

Players were available to comment on their triumph and the correlation between every person was that

Veteran captain Bing Vidad took a modest outlook on the tournament, and said "Milan for me was a great and humbling experience, playing with a new team that became a new group of friends. On the court, it was all business, setting aside our team rivalries (representatives from a selection of Kampi teams) and focusing on the task at hand - to bring home the Milan Championship. It made my job, as co-captain with Ryan (Abeleda), much easier as we tried to lead by example".

Clutching onto his MVP trophy Vidad declared "I felt proud and still feel proud of what we achieved in Milan - the first Kampi team from London to go abroad and bring home not only 2 mythical 5 trophies, best Coach trophy, MVP trophy, but also the Milan Championship trophy. As MVP, I couldn't have done without the team, the committee, family and friends that came along and the supporters that we made while there."

The Kampi select team completed a clean sweep of the Italian competition, earning a perfect 4-0 record and resounding 19.4 points goal difference en route to London's first ever overseas title at the first attempt dominating all competition with physical play, run-and-gun style offence, solid shooting and a variety of defensive looks. In addition, London dominated the individual awarding with three of the roster named to the tournament's mythical five. Sweet shooting guard Noel Santos and floor general Banj Abeleda were led by versatile MVP Bing Vidad and rookie head coach Mark Ordoña was voted as the coach of the tournament.

The trip not only offered an opportunity for the young men to compete against foreign competition but also presented itself as a unique opportunity to learn of another culture and explore a country different to England.

There was also a resounding approval from the players as they showed their gratitude towards the historical achievement. They also put their names forward for any other upcoming tournaments.

"From the starting five to the eleventh man, we all brought something to the table. It's a great feat, to be given the opportunity to get to play abroad with these guys and also win it all is a blessing" said guard Banj Abeleda "we've really bonded and I look forward to the next one. If they want me, I'm ready to play."

"I'm really grateful for the chance to play basketball abroad. It was a such a great experience to represent British Filipinos also to play with a group of talented individuals" said Centre Josh Sabado "Being the youngest and the rookie of the team I can use this experience for future and hopefully play with these special guys again." Coach Ordoña summed up the collective opinion of the players that the camaraderie was as important as the talent within the London camp and the key to their success. Ordoña said "Leading our team out in Milan is something I will always be proud of. Not only did we bring the trophy back home, I'm mostly proud of the way we played together. We went there as a team and came back a family." Organizer Ed Caparros took a philosophical approach to the team's formula for success and signalled there is more to come from the team he has assembled.

"Basketball. It doesn't matter how tall or small you are. Consistency is the key to this. Practice makes you perfect, practice makes you energetic, and practice gives you confidence. Bottom line. The young men involved proved this as individuals and more importantly as a team".

Mr. Caparros stated "the experience in Milan is something we will always remember. It's a triumph. Who knows maybe next year its Germany or Spain."

With the championship success and approval from organizer Mr. Caparros for the young men's behaviour and performance along with the players' unique bond and enthusiasm for more success as a unit it leads to believe that this group will remain in contention to compete for many more championships together.

Salamat Po!