The sight of hardworking Gilas player Marc Pingris crying says it all. Gilas Pilipinas fails to advance to the next round in FIBA World Cup after losing to gutsy Puerto Rico, 77-73.
Without a doubt, Gilas Pilipinas played to the best of its ability. Without a doubt, the team tried hard to win every game. While other Asian teams are being crushed to a pulp by their opponents, Gilas Pilipinas was holding its own against the best teams in the world.
So many basketball lessons can be learned from the Gilas experience. But the biggest and most important lesson, I think, goes beyond basketball.
Three hours before the game against Puerto Rico, I tweeted Gilas fans, officials and Coach Chot Reyes to a 7:25pm prayer for the team. The simultaneous and combined prayers, I hoped, would finally give Gilas Pilipinas the crucial and much-needed win. Interestingly, no one responded to, much less retweeted, my tweet. Perhaps, people found the tweet simply irrelevant and not worthy of any attention.
But in a situation where one tries with all his might and yet fails to achieve his purpose, prayers can spell a big difference. The biggest lesson, I think, in the whole Gilas experience in FIBA World Cup is the power of prayer. The team perhaps forgot to collectively call on God, thinking that it can win games on its own. That it has everything in its power to turn the games in its favor. But as results show, try as the team might, victory never came. Had Gilas Pilipinas and its fans been humble enough to acknowledge the greater power of prayer, I am sure the results would have been much better for everyone.
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