Filipino-American head coach Erik Spoelstra is back in the Philippines as part of the NBA FIT Philippines 2011, the league’s global comprehensive health and wellness program.

Spoelstra said that his visit to the country last year was a big inspiration for him.

"It was transformational, it really is," Spoelstra said.

"I grew up with 2 cultures, with an American background and a Filipino side that was stressed from my mother," he added.

Spoelstra said that he was able to combine his 2 passions in life: basketball and family.

"I couldn't imagine doing anything else in my life," Spoelstra said of the sport. "To be able to come back here, where I do have family, cousins, uncles and aunts, and to be able to do it with a platform of basketball and NBA FIT is special."

"When you are involved in the NBA, the lights, the expectations, everything that comes along with that, you also understand what really matters and that's family," Spoelstra said.

Spoelstra’s mother hails from San Pablo, Laguna.

source: TJ Manotoc, ABS-CBN News