JORDAN HEADING EXPLAINS WHY HE HAD TO SAY NO TO GILAS CALL-UP

JORDAN Heading might be on a return trip to the Gilas Pilipinas pool.

In a chat with SPIN.ph, the Fil-Australian said he is excited to sit down and talk to Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone when the latter returns from the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Latvia.

Heading confirmed he was contacted by Cone on the possibility of taking the place of the injured Scottie Thompson in the Latvia-bound Gilas team. But he explained that personal matters kept him from taking the opportunity.

READ SGA in talks to loan Abando, Heading to Gilas for FIBA OQT

"Coach Tim called me last Monday or something like that, it’s like the week that they’re gonna go into the Inspire [Sports Academy] camp ... about the possibility of me coming into this camp, but unfortunately, I couldn’t make it work," said Heading.

"My wife and I have been trying to get pregnant for two years, we’ve had some problems there. We’re working with a fertility specialist here in Adelaide. He (Cone) called me kinda last minute and we had one last cycle (with the doctor) before I was gonna come to Manila for Strong Group," he said.

The sharp-shooter played for Gilas during the time of coach Tab Baldwin and was part of the pool that Chot Reyes formed for the last World Cup. But their paths grew apart after Heading went to play in Taiwan and later in the Japan B.League. 

PHOTO: Jerome Ascano

Years later, Heading said he is looking forward to donning the national colors again. 

"I did everything that I can do to make it work, I tried to work around that. But unfortunately we’re already halfway through and into a cycle that we couldn’t make any changes [in the treatment]. That’s about my family. It’s the biggest thing right now. If it was something else, I could have dropped it," he said.

That opportunity now behins him, Heading bared that he is now excited to meet with Cone and is optimistic that he will finally get the shot at representing the country anew.

"I tried whatever I could do to make it work for this window (for me to play for Gilas). But unfortunately, it was just too late. Coach Tim, he wants to have coffee with me when he gets back from Latvia," said the 28-year old gunner.

"Hopefully, we can figure out something then and hopefully I would be added to the pool. We’ll see," he said.

2024-06-26T06:13:33Z dg43tfdfdgfd