FCM One-on-One presents:
Mr. Kelvin Dela Pena, Former Professional Basketball Player (PBA, PBL), Coach and Founder of Rise Up Hoops Basketball
Part IV
FCM: For parents who have kids who want to get to basketball seriously. What’s your advice?
KDP: You got to let your kids enjoy the game, but you have to be there, and you have to support them. That doesn’t mean just letting your kids play basketball, but go out there and spend time with your kids.
Find coaches for your kid. Find tools for you kids to get there.
Today’s day and age, you have to spend a little bit to get something in reward. Hockey in Canada is such a big thing because we have these developmental programs for hockey. Why can’t we have that for Basketball?
In Toronto or Ottawa, they have basketball programs for kids. We don’t have that much program here in the West or Calgary.
For parents out there who has kids who want to play basketball, your job is to do the research- who is the guy out there to see or who is the guy out there that can give your child that access to good development programs.
If your kid is passionate about a sport, you have to support that. It gets them out of trouble. It takes them off the street. My parents understood that. My dad drove my development. He gave me opportunities to reach my goals.
Some parents have this mentality of, “they’re just kids. They’re gonna learn.” But what parents don’t understand is that this is the time when you have to start pushing your kids. This is when you need to start testing and challenging kids.
When they’re 15, 16, 17, it’s too late. When kids are at 6, 7, or 10, this is the time to challenge them because they’re still learning. This is the development stage. When they’re in their teens, kids already have developed so many bad habits. And for a coach to try to repair or fix these bad habits, it might be too late.
So for parents who have young kids, 6 to 11, this is the time to be hard on kids. Because that’s when the development happens.
Kids are so resilient. When kids trip and fall, they cry a little bit and back at it again. But when they hit their teens, when they trip or fall, you get complaints.
It’s ok to be hard and tough on your kids because the world is not easy.
FCM: For kids who wants to become a pro, what’s your advice?
KDP: Don’t pretend. Don’t say you’re a basketball player if you don’t put in the work. Don’t say you love basketball if all you do at home is be on your computer or you’re just hanging around with friends.
If you want to do something, you want to spend as much time as you can with that one thing.
I find nowadays kids would say they love basketball, but come Friday night, they’d drop everything to be with their friends. That mentally has to be fixed for both parents and kids. They have to have this killer instinct that like, “It’s your dreams, what are you going to do to get there?”
You have to know what you want to get at a very young age. That’s what it takes to be a pro.
If you want to make money playing basketball, this is what it’s going to take. It’s not easy. You have to make sacrifices. If parents are willing to make sacrifices, kids also have to make the sacrifices.
You have to live your dream and do what it takes. You can’t pretend it.
FCM: How can the Filipino Community support your program?
KDP: The Filipino community is such a powerful community. They just have to believe the product.
We Filipinos, when there’s a product out there, the first thing we ask is, “Totoo ba yan? Is that legit?” We have so many questions.
For me, when a player starts training with me, I always say, your first session is free. If you want, your first week will be for free. From there it’s up to you.
I ask the parents to trust the process because I’ve been there for so many years. I’ve played in all these leagues. You have to trust the process.
My program is new. So we have to support it. We have to spread the word. I’m trying to change the game here in the west. I want to bring a group of kids and take them overseas. I need everyone’s support to back that up, to understand that there’s a basketball movement out there.
When I was growing up, I had my dad and my brother. Now, I have these tools and options to help our kids. We just have to trust the process. It’s just up to parents and kids to walk my path. I’m here to support that.
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