When we think of basketball coaches, the first thing that comes to mind is someone who drills plays into muscle memory, someone who molds raw talent into skills.
But for FEU’s Sean Chambers, being a coach goes far beyond the X’s and O’s of the game. For Tamaraws mentor and PBA legend, it’s about empowerment, empathy, and creating safe spaces where athletes are seen—not just as players, but as people.
In the inaugural Champions Class led by coach Richard Del Rosario and joined by icons like Tim Cone and Jong Uichico, Chambers stood out not just for his philosophy, but for his heart.
During the two-day convergence of minds, the six-time PBA champion import talked about the power of listening and understanding.
“My players will tell you this, I don’t typically put them in a situation where I like to yell at my players, I’m not the guy,” he said.
“I’m like: ‘Help me out, what did you see?’ I want to empower them. If they’re not seeing it, then it’s on me.”
That quiet humility to empower rather than command stems from a core belief that coaching is a form of care. For Chambers, it is a lesson he learned from his mentor-principal whose words still echo in his life today.
“One of the things I was taught from my mentor-principal is—as leaders of the school, as educators, can we be a hero? Can we do something to help a kid make it?”
“At the end of the day, we want to be heroes, we want to be helpers of the universe. We want to help young people be successful. We don’t want to kill dreams,” he added.
For Chambers, this calling to be a “helper of the universe” is personal. It’s the way he was raised.
Coach Chambers grew up in a family that believed in kindness and empowerment—values instilled by his mother, and values he now passes on to his players.
“I’m always in a mode where I want to help more than to hurt--that came from my mother, family,” he recalled.
“We’ve always been one of those to help ones that are less fortunate. I want my players to act that way--I want us to be helpers of the universe and not one to harm the universe. In whatever we can do to help, we want to be helpers.”
The instinct to help seems to run in the family. In fact, his daughter, too, has taken the path of compassion, working as a suicide hotline supervisor in California.
“My daughter who just graduated in California, she’s actually working for a suicide hotline as a supervisor,” Chambers revealed.
“Interesting how this conversation came up. We’re always helping people, empowering people and trying to make people’s lives better. It’s in the family.”
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What most people don’t know about Sean Chambers is that he has a masters degree in counseling. He sees counseling as a beneficial aspect when it comes to understanding his players beyond the game.
“Actually, my background—I have a masters in counseling. That’s one of the benefits of me being a coach because I understand that everybody is different, everybody has their mental health and non-mental health issues,” he said.
“I just think building good relationships and reading non-verbals, you can tell when kids are in good spaces.”
One thing about Chambers, he tends to learn from the people around him and this is evident when he quoted his former coach and now fellow mentor Tim Cone when it comes to the importance of communication.
“Communicate with your players. Like what coach Tim said: ‘you want to treat everybody fairly, but don’t let everybody be treated the same.’”
Through his life and career, it’s something that Chambers lives by.
“There are certain players you can be tougher on, there are certain players you put high expectations on, and there are certain players that can be like “you know what? I just need to tell him one word and he understands, I don’t need to linger on the situation,” he said.
Outside his basketball career, Chambers spent 17 years working in middle schools, dealing with kids facing some of life’s hardest challenges.
That experience made him sensitive to quiet signs of struggle.
“I have players who have come through difficult situations, again, I worked at a middle school and I handled students for 17 odd years. I’ve seen it all. I just think being able to see signs and being available is the biggest thing.”
When asked when he has ever been in a situation where mental health is tough, Chambers opened up about being down and the importance of helping those who are mentally struggling.
“I think we all have moments when we’re really down, but I don’t think I’ve crossed to the dark side,” he said.
“I think everybody goes through that part where they get down and of course, there are certain people that can't stop it—the train from going to the tunnel and stopping it, right? Those are the ones that we need to be looking out for because they can’t stop it and they can’t get past that depression and get out of it.”
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In dealing with a tender and sensitive topic, Chambers knows what it feels like to carry the weight of missed chances.
When asked about his personal experience with mental health, he shared a heartbreaking memory from his youth.
“Honestly, I’ll tell you this. In my first year of college, one of my dearest friends in college took her own life and I was supposed to write her back and I didn’t call her, I called her the following day and I found out at that time that she had passed,” Chambers recalled.
“I didn’t call her on the day I was scheduled to call her and apparently she had a twin, and they said they saw signs and thought she was going to be okay. It’s crazy, I’m 60 now and it happened when I was 18. To this day, [I ask myself], what if I had made that call?”
That "what if" still lives in him.
For coach Chambers, the answer lies in presence and in caring. The answer lies in creating safe spaces, and checking in—genuinely, quietly, and consistently.
“That’s where we need to have avenues, we need to have spaces where they can share those feelings and also I think it is important for people with leadership and people involved with kids to step in and say: ‘Hey are you okay, do you need somebody to talk to? Are you struggling in this situation?’”
“You don’t even have to ask those words, you just need to show you care and a lot of times, those conversations will come up.”
In sports where toughness is mistaken for strength, Sean Chambers offers something deeper—an enduring reminder that real strength lies in kindness, in listening, and in being there when it matters most.
Because at the end of the day, a coach doesn’t just teach the game. A coach shapes lives.