Ateneo deputy Sandy Arespacochaga is the brand new Gilas women coach.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.web
MANILA, Philippines–The Gilas Pilipinas girls’s youth program has tapped veteran coach Sandy Arespacochaga to deal with the nationwide group forward of the 2026 Fiba Ladies’s U18 Asia Cup Seaba Qualifiers.
Gilas Ladies program director Bacon Austria welcomed the appointment of Arespacochaga, citing the longtime coach’s expertise and talent to develop younger gamers.
“He’s a trainer. At this stage, he matches completely in shaping the women’ future,” Austria stated.
“Greater than successful, his focus is on creating the women into higher basketball gamers and higher individuals. On the basketball side, Coach Sandy is not any stranger to Fiba tournaments. He’s already coached Gilas Youth Males and assisted Gilas Males on the World Cup stage.”
Arespacochaga has constructed an intensive teaching résumé in each collegiate {and professional} basketball.
He at the moment serves as an assistant coach underneath Tab Baldwin with the Ateneo Blue Eagles within the UAAP and can also be a part of Chot Reyes’ workers with TNT Tropang 5G within the PBA.
Now, he provides one other function as head coach of the Gilas Pilipinas U-18 Ladies’s group.
“I’ve been a fan of girls’s basketball, however I’ve by no means coached girls’s basketball, so I’m actually grateful for this chance,” Arespacochaga stated.
“We fashioned the pool with the concept not simply of forming the group for Seaba. We needed to type a pool that included gamers whom we may also help out and assist elevate as a result of we needed to raise girls’s basketball as a complete.”
Arespacochaga is ready to formally start his duties subsequent month.
The 2026 Fiba Ladies’s U18 Asia Cup Seaba Qualifiers shall be held in Bacolod from June 2 to six.
The Philippines has already secured a spot within the 2026 Fiba Ladies’s U18 Asia Cup after successful Division B in 2024 to earn promotion to Division A.
