Former Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin breaks silence following player deaths in team building exercise

Saturday, 13 June 2026

In an emotional video statement, Tab Baldwin says he 'failed as a leader' after two members of the champion Filipino university basketball team he coaches died.

Former Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin has broken his silence on the tragic deaths of two players of the champion Filipino university basketball team he coaches.

Divine Adili, 21, and Rene Baterbonia, 19, of the Ateneo Blue Eagles, died during a team building exercise in Dipaculao, Aurora, in the Philippines on Monday.

Baldwin spoke in the pre-recorded video, shared late Friday by the Ateneo de Manila University, pausing and appearing upset as he spoke about the incident.

“I failed as a leader. I felt I had failed as a coach. I certainly felt like I had failed as a friend to Divine and Rene,” said Baldwin.

“I'm sorry. To the depth of my being, I'm sorry.”

He said on “that fateful day” the team had tried everything they could to ensure everyone arrived back to shore safely.

“We sent the players out for a routine training run in what we thought was shallow water,” Baldwin said.

“Up to the moment when we realised that whatever had happened, they were in dangerous water and we did everything that we could.”

Basketball coach Tab Baldwin expressed sorrow for the families of the two young men who died in a tragedy in the Philippines.

Baldwin said when they realised that not everyone was safe, he “experienced the descent into the darkest place imaginable”.

He said that “no matter the magnitude of our grief,” the families had experienced a loss “so much greater than ours”.

He expressed “immense grief and immense remorse,” asking for forgiveness from Adili and Baterbonia’s families.

“Yes, as a coach, I lost my boys too. Never again would I be able to help them develop into the basketball player they wanted to be, to help them grow into the young man that they promised that they could be,” he said.

But Baldwin acknowledged it was “insignificant” to what the families were experiencing.

“As a coach, we are entrusted with the development of these young men into future professionals. But mostly, as a coach, I'm entrusted by you, the parents and the families, with first and foremost, their well-being.”

Tab Baldwin appears at a vigil following the deaths of two of his players in a team building exercise.

”And in this, I failed.”

Baldwin, an American Kiwi, was the New Zealand men’s basketball coach from 2001 to 2006, and guided the Tall Blacks to a historic 4th-place finish at the 2002 FIBA World Championship.

On Monday, Police Regional Office 3 in the Philippines said the “initial findings indicate that the victims were swimming when they were reportedly carried by a strong current into deeper waters”.

Police Colonel Percival R Pineda said the incident happened about 2.40pm in front of the resort where the Ateneo Blue Eagles were holding their team-building activity, involving around 20 members of the team, including players and coaching staff.

The pair were taken to Aurora Memorial Hospital to be resuscitated but were declared dead on arrival.

Baldwin said the “only” thing that he’s clung to in the past several says is that as part of a community of faith, they can pray.

“To pray that the Lord embraces our two boys. To pray that the Lord gives peace, comfort, some sense of sanity to the Barterbonia family and the Adili family.'