Coach Troy Umaly has built his brand of coaching anchored on these core principles: discipline on and off the court, empowerment not entitlement, and integrating on-court talent with life skills. With 25 years of coaching experience, eight of which have been spent in Thailand developing up-and-coming players, Coach Troy did more than draw X's and O's. From instilling a winning attitude in each individual he handles to having a good grasp of the similarities and differences of all team members, Coach Troy's approach has led to the all-around development of his wards may it be on the court, inside the classroom, or as members of society. His foray into coaching was kickstarted at the acclaimed BEST Center under the late Nicanor “Nic” Jorge, whom he takes pride in as his first basketball coach, and his other half, Marilyn Santos-Jorge. He has been mentored by the legendary and NCAA multi-titled coach Edmundo “Ato” Badolato at San Beda before he ventured into working with training several notable high school basketball players tapped to play for the Philippine National Youth Team who went to play in the collegiate basketball level and later on in the pro ranks. From there, he worked his way up the ranks until he was tapped by Jamike Jarin to be part of the coaching for Batang Gilas, the Philippines’ national youth team, then backstopped by the Nieto twins Matt and Mike, Paul Desiderio, Diego Dario, Richard Escoto (who were all drafted in the PBA), collegiate standouts Kobe Paras, Ricci Rivero, Jolo Mendoza, Jollo Go, Enzo Navarro, Carlo Abadeza, Dino San Juan, Michael Dela Cruz, Norrish Decapia, Jaime Zalamea, Mikel Panlilio and Arnie Padilla who went on to compete in the 2013 SEABA, FIBA Asia 2013, FIBA World Cup 2014 wherein they played against the best U17 players from around the world, several of them making it to the NBA just like Jason Tatum of the Boston Celtics. Some of the budding basketball superstars that have been under Coach Troy's tutelage include De La Salle University's Evan Nelle and Enzo Joson of National University in the UAAP. In the NCAA, he worked with Red Johann Rubite who saw action for Lyceum after his stint with Traill and is now based in Canada. Then there's Fran Yu (who also got an offer to play in a US NCAA Division 2 college in Buffalo, New York through the international network of coaches that Coach Troy has built over the years),whose fancy playmaking skills helped Letran bag the championship in the 2019-2020 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) season and earned him the bragging rights of being named Most Improved Player and NCAA Finals MVP. As the Director of Basketball Program Development for Traill International School, Coach Troy furthered his reach by recruiting and developing players of different nationalities who later went on to secure university scholarships after their stints at Traill. Several of them are Nigerian center Olaseni Samson Sogbesan, who is currently playing in Srinakarin Viroth in Thailand; Kurt Calaguio, Gershom Montes, Cian Villaflor, and Kobe Francisco, now mainstays at Sripatum University in Thailand; Jerome Ndanga, a Congolese bruiser recruited by Chinese Culture University in Taiwan along with Nigeria’s former national team player and Basketball Without Boarders and Giants of Africa All-Star Team awardee, Ameh Peters John, who was also ranked in the Top 5 of the African continent several years back. As one of the most notable tacticians in Thailand, Coach Troy had the privilege of working with renowned athletic trainer, performance specialist, sports therapist, and former Los Angeles Lakers head trainer Marko Yrjovuori. Yrjovuori has worked with National Basketball Association (NBA) stars such as James Harden, Pau Gasol, and the late great Kobe Bryant. Coach Troy's upskilling with Yrjovuori translated to him developing more high-caliber players with two of them soon to showcase their wares in the United States' collegiate basketball scene:
Nabil Issa Kone, from his days at Traill International School to Rotorua High School in New Zealand is now with the Trinity International University in Chicago, Illinois. Meanwhile, the highly-touted Souleymane Doumbia, named in the All-American Team in Junior College (JUCO) after making noise for Navarro College and became one of the top prospects of class 2021 will soon take the court as the newest recruit of Texas Christian University (TCU) where he will get his real test facing other elite players in the US NCAA's Division 1 Big 12 Conference. Coach Troy aims to discover and mentor more players like them in Thailand through a wholistic approach to coaching. Leaning on the objective of molding the youth into being fundamentally sound, disciplined, intelligent, and competitive players who can not only shoot, defend, dunk, or be one step ahead of their rivals but also become good ambassadors of the sport off the court. As a father figure, Coach Troy's mentorship does not start and end with just crafting offensive and defensive schemes. A firm believer that a mentor must "coach the person and not just the athlete," Coach Troy mixes a positive sporting environment with instilling humility, determination, honesty, and indomitable spirit to his wards for them to be high-performing individuals not just on the hardcourt but also in school and in life.
