MANILA, Philippines — The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) will be restructuring the Gilas Pilipinas Youth program as head coach Josh Reyes has stepped down from his position. "We thank coach Josh for his service to the SBP and to the country in leading the Gilas Youth program for the past six years," said SBP President Al Panlilio. "While he leaves his role as head coach, he will still be part of the SBP organization as an assistant to coach Tim Cone for Gilas Pilipinas Men." Reyes' involvement with Gilas Youth started in 2017 in an assistant capacity for the FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship. Free from any ties with high school or collegiate programs, coaches entrusted their players under Reyes' guidance with no worries that he'll be recruiting them out of their current schools. Reyes got his first head coaching opportunity in the 2018 Under-18 Asian Championship. In that competition, Reyes led a powerhouse Philippine squad with the likes of Kai Sotto, AJ Edu, and Dave Ildefonso to the country's best finish in the tournament since 1992 and more importantly ended a 40-year absence in the Under-19 World Cup. After a brief absence, Reyes returned to Gilas Youth to restart the pandemic-hampered program. Gilas Youth finished seventh in the 2022 Under-16 and sixth in the 2022 Under-18 Asian Championships. Reyes was finally able to get the preparation he wanted for the 2023 Under-16 Asian Championship which started with a nationwide tryout and was followed by five months of training. They won the 2023 SEABA tournament before going on a dream run by beating South Korea in the playoffs and upsetting Japan in the quarterfinals to reach the final four and book a ticket to the 2024 FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Istanbul, Turkey. Unfortunately, Kieffer Alas, a member of Asia's All-Star Five, suffered a knee injury days before the start of the tournament, leading to a winless campaign. This happened again prior to the FIBA Under-18 Asian Championship where Andy Gemao suffered a hand fracture as Gilas Youth settled for a tenth-place finish. "The last Under-18 team gave me the ending I didn't know I needed," Reyes admitted. After the loss to Japan, Reyes was joined in the dugout by 12 teary-eyed players whose World Cup dreams fell short. Still, the entire team was thankful for the opportunity to serve the country. "I thank them for giving me their very best because as a coach that's all you can ask for. It's my worst finish but it's a group that gave me a meaningful experience. It's not entirely about the wins and losses but about the journey and how you grow together," said Reyes. "I'm also thankful to our coaching staff and the support staff. We went through many ups and downs but they always showed belief through the challenges." Reyes leaves the program after leading two versions of Gilas Youth into the FIBA World Cup. "I'm proud of those achievements but I'm more proud of the relationships I've built with our teams. Seeing them succeeding in their basketball careers and being better individuals after their Gilas Youth service outweighs anything that we achieved on the court," Reyes explained. "But now I have two young kids at home and the time away is starting to become heavier so I'm looking forward to having more time for my family while still being a part of coach Tim's staff. I'm at peace with how my Gilas Youth journey reached its completion." The next step for the program now is to name its head coach. "We are already having discussions within the SBP," explained SBP Executive Director Erika Dy. "We thank coach Josh for helping us streamline our processes as this will be valuable to the program moving forward. The focus remains to be continuity and synergy with Gilas Men and a stronger connection with our current Grassroots Program under coach Norman Black." The announcement of the next Gilas Youth coach will be made in the coming weeks. TMT