New-look Slingers reach out to basketball community at Catholic High

By Ian Chew

Catholic High School, Thursday, September 10, 2009 – A new-look Singapore Slingers outfit tipped off their pre-season preparations for the upcoming ASEAN Basketball League season with a special clinic for the Catholic High basketball team.

Featuring a line-up of seven home-grown players together with a mix of foreign and ASEAN players, the Slingers have reinvented themselves and are now more relevant to the local crowd.

Yet there is no intention of lowering their basketball standards, despite losing key players such as Eric Sandrin and Darren Ng from last year’s roster.

Said Desmond Oh Wei Jie, one of the seven Singaporeans in the team, “Our target is a top-four finish in the upcoming ABL’s first season, which we think is highly achievable.”

Their cause is certainly helped with the additions of two new American players Kyle Jeffers and Michael LeBlanc, who were unveiled at the clinic.

Fresh from his stint at Euro basketball league team Langen in Germany, the 2.06m tall Kyle will definitely relish his role at the centre of the Slingers team.

2.02m tall Michael LeBlanc, on the other hand, is no stranger to the Slingers outfit, having top-scored with 27 points for the Malaysia All-stars when playing against the Slingers last year.

“I’ve had a great time and they are a bunch of great guys. It’s a first class organisation,” said LeBlanc, who has been in Singapore for only six days. “This is the best country I’ve played in.”

LeBlanc should know – he has played in 15 countries over seven seasons.

Both Americans may prove to be astute signings for the Slingers, especially with the experience of Filipino point guard Al Vergara from last year guiding the team as well.

Al Vergara is certainly happy to be back in Singapore after featuring last year for the Slingers. Al went back to the Philippines for seven months and while he was there, he won the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) championship with Harbour Centre. He then went on to play for Purefoods in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) championship for one conference season.

“Our main opponents will be the Philippine Patriots and Satria Muda Britama (of Indonesia),” said Al. “And the team needs one more shooter to replace Darren Ng.”

The Slingers can definitely do with a greater Singaporean fan base, which explains their gruelling schedule of community outreach to schools and events in addition to their nightly trainings.

“We hope that we can make the Slingers brand more visible to Singaporeans and get them to identify with us as we are staying for the long-term. A crucial part of our strategy is to make an impact among the youths of Singapore and also for us to hopefully contribute towards the development of basketball in Singapore,” explained JJ O’Brien, the managing executive of the team.

Judging from the reactions of the students, it seemed the Slingers have succeeded.

“I’ve actually learnt more about dribbling skills in this session,” exclaimed Kelvin Wong, a secondary two Catholic High student on the hour-long clinic.

The ABL season will officially tip-off on 10 October 2009 and the newly revamped Singapore Slingers roster will be in pre-season action during their 2009 Challenge Series which starts from September 18th to October 4th at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Tickets are available at SISTIC.

Fri, 18 Sep, 8pm – Coca Cola Tigers (PBA)
Wed, 23 Sep, 8pm – Smart Telecom Select (Phil)
Wed, 30 Sep, 8pm – Ginebra Kings (PBA)
Sun, 4 Oct, 4pm – San Miguel Beermen (PBA)

Slingers 2009 Roster (Singaporeans unless stated otherwise)
Pathman Matialakan
Desmond Oh Wei Jie
Hong Wei Jian
Wong Wei Long
Michael Wong
Lim Wai Sian
Steven Khoo
Kyle Jeffers (USA)
Michael LeBlanc (USA)
Al Vergara (Philippines)
Marcus Ng (Australian of Malaysian-Chinese descent)

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