Wilhelmus Caanen: "I would like to keep growing as a coach"

The head coach of the Criollos de Caguas speaks on Punto Aparte about his growth in basketball, his family's influence, how he has overcome his challenges, and what lies ahead for his team going into the 2025 BSN season.

Wilhelmus Caanen, head coach of the Criollos de Caguas in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN), is in one of his best stretches. After winning the BSN championship last year, the first of his career as a player and a coach, coach Caanen feels he has fulfilled his dreams.

Even so, he still believes he can be a better coach and that he needs to give back to the community much of the love he received on the courts growing up.

He has not always felt so comfortable in his role. In an interview on the podcast Punto Aparte, Caanen talked about his beginnings in the sport, how he has overcome his challenges, how he sees his team's future, and what dreams he still has left to fulfill.

In childhood, sports set him on his path

Born in Brooklyn, Caanen grew up in Ponce with his mother and two brothers. Despite the challenges they faced as a family, he recalled that it was at the basketball clinics in his barrio where he found his way.

"I'm the son of a single mother… My mom held firm, dealing with three kids, and sports were what set me on my path."

Wilhelmus Caanen, head coach of the Criollos de Caguas BSN, in an interview with Punto Aparte

"Those little angels on the courts, the different people who worked with us (…) when we were coming up, they were the ones who would give you a nudge and say: 'Where are you headed?'" he said about his early days in basketball as a child.

That led him to love the sport to the point that he became a professional player and played for six different BSN teams over 18 years, "despite not being the most talented guy," Caanen acknowledged, while highlighting the careers of players such as Eddie Casiano, Carlos Arroyo and José Juan Barea.

⛹️‍♂️What teams did Wilhelmus Caanen play for?

1989-1994

Maratonistas de Coamo

Duration: 5 seasons

1995

Avancinos de Villalba

Duration: 1 season

1996-2000

Criollos de Caguas

Duration: 4 seasons

2001-2002

Atléticos de San Germán

Duration: 2 seasons

2003

Leones de Ponce

Duration: 1 season

2004

Vaqueros de Bayamón

Duration: 1 season

2005-2006

Maratonistas de Coamo

Duration: 2 seasons

"I was a warrior as a player. I made things happen, but I was clear-eyed: maybe with a little more work and a little more discipline, I might have become a better player, maybe," he said.

The love he received on the courts as a child is what he would like to give back to the community in his adopted town of Caguas: giving young people a path to follow, whether that is professional basketball or simply a support system for their lives. "That is what we want to provide, to see if someday, not necessarily as professional athletes, they become good people," he said.

His evolution: how he became a coach of champions

After his professional playing career ended, Caanen started out as a coach but "didn't enjoy it as much." He had to evolve as a coach and stepped away from basketball for 15 years before returning to the BSN for his first championship.

Those experiences as a player, and later as part of the coaching staffs of several teams and in his role as a head coach, led him to understand how important the environment around you is for falling in love with the process, enjoying wins and learning from losses.

"I had chances to win, and we won, and nothing happened, because it was like we were just individuals. We won, we lifted the trophy… When I had the chance to compete and win and lose as a family, I saw something there. And I said, no, there's something here," he said.

This led him to build a sense of community with his team, to the point that they became family, something that for Caanen means "everything." That sense of family has been essential both to his growth as a person, with the support of his mother, aunts, uncles, "fake cousins and fake uncles," and friends, and to the process of building a BSN championship team, a milestone the Criollos achieved for the second time in their history.

"That's why last year was so cool, it was so special, because we felt for each other and suffered for each other. We wouldn't have won (without feeling like a family) and I felt love for those guys and they felt it for me", he said, visibly moved.

The future of the Criollos and Criollas de Caguas

Looking ahead to the new BSN season, coach Wil wants to "give continuity to what we already started," keeping in mind that one of the most important things is unity as a group.

With the addition of the Criollas de Caguas to the franchise late last year, Caanen acknowledges that "we are the first organization to have both teams," and is preparing to "learn from what women's basketball has to offer us" and build fan support for both squads.

Caanen's future: "I have the blessing of being a coach 100%"

Caanen acknowledges the privilege of being a full-time coach and considers it "like having achieved my dreams." Even so, he would like to "keep growing as a coach" and leaves open the possibility that, in the future, he could be involved in professional basketball in other parts of the world.

"I would like to keep evolving as a coach. Not so much for myself, but to keep contributing to the sport in Puerto Rico. Keep growing, whether in or outside of Puerto Rico, whether in the United States, whether in Europe. If the opportunity comes, it's welcome, but I don't set false expectations for myself," he said.

And if he ever had to step away from the courts, Caanen would "love to have the opportunity to work in television with basketball or in a podcast about basketball," which would keep him close to the sport that has given him so much.

"If God gives me health, I don't think I'll ever leave. They'll have to carry me out dead," he said.

Editorial note: Los Criollos de Caguas, like PlateaPR, are part of Forward, an innovation and technology platform dedicated to catalyzing Puerto Rico's progress, co-founded by Red Ventures CEO Ric Elías.

This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).