Rekindle the love for the game

Photo c/o RMO

"Everyone who is successful must have dreamed of something (Maricopa Native American tribe)." I've always loved this sport! Must be in my DNA---dad was a very good player, making it to the top of his college varsity team, as well as nearly getting into the commercial leagues in Manila, if the lure of the sea didn't pull him away from the game! He was above-average for a Filipino at 5-8. I'm a bit taller than him at 5-9 and played center-  guard in high school varsity. I can still recall when I was perhaps 6-7 years old when I first saw him play. The last time I played with my dad was when I graduated from high school in 1973.

 My younger brother Bimbo is the better player   among us four boys. Him being a leftie (quite   difficult to guard, defend). Both of us even enlisted   for a tryout when the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) was just starting in 1974. I recall walking the sidestreets of Paco, Manila, one afternoon to meet the guy who was doing the signups. We saw our names on the Seven-Up Uncolas team. It's an unfortunate thing that I lost my copy of a Manila newspaper (I think it was The Manila Times) wherein our names were published as try-out participants. However, we never made the cut. We were hoping to continue the basketball legacy of my dad.

The photo with Sonny Barrios was the closest I got to being in the big leagues of Philippine basketball. This was taken in November 2019 when The Gilas Pilipinas women's team came to Aotearoa New Zealand to play in the Olympic qualifiers. The girls had an awesome experience on and off the court. That will be for a future blog post.