College basketball season is back again: The NCAA started two weeks ago, while the UAAP started their season last weekend. Judging from the first few games of the season, college basketball is set to live up to its reputation of being wild, unpredictable and an absolutely nerve wracking experience.Last Sunday, I watched the first game of my Alma Mater, Ateneo de Manila versus FEU. It was an exciting ball game pitting two top contenders for this years UAAP championship. For casual observers, fans, students or alumni like me watching the first game of the much-awaited UAAP season is a visual feast. It ushers in 3 months of crazy college hoop basketball that showcases the drama of collegiate teams battling it out for pride and glory.
The excitement level is truly at its all-time high as we watch every game. If mere observers like me feel this excitement, you could just wonder and imagine the emotions going through the actual collegiate players themselves.Having experienced this college basketball madness as a player, I am quite blessed. Playing in the UAAP as an Ateneo Blue Eagle is one unforgettable experience. Although it has been almost 3 years since my last collegiate game, memories of playing college basketball are still very fresh. I guess they’re are entrenched in memory; they will always be remembered and brought up during casual conversation with friends during inumans and alaskahans.How is it really like to play college basketball in the Philippines? With all the hype, hysteria and excitement surrounding it, and in a country where college basketball is much like a telenovela; what is it like to play the actor in this so called “college basketball telenovela?”To share the most random of my experiences and make my sharing as intimate as possible, I’ll highlight my experiences in bullet points instead of the more traditional paragraph form. So here is my blow by blow account of being a college basketball player.
-It doesn’t matter if you are a rookie, a sophomore or playing your last year, there’s only one word to describe it: nakakakaba. There is just so much at stake! The pressure is overwhelming for an 18 to 21 year old. However, it is what you make out of this pressure that will define your college career.
- After a win, going to school the next day is awesome! But when we would lose, it would be very difficult. When you win, “ang guwapo ng feeling!” But after a defeat, it is as if you just want to be a ghost hopping from one class to another.
- Alumni, fans and avid followers are your best friends and worst enemies at the same time. They love you when you are winning but you’ll also hear the worst criticism from them when you suck. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Everybody loves a winner and the emotions are just so high in college basketball. I’m sure I have been cursed at many times in my 5-year college career but the Ateneo Alumni are best supporters a player could have. Just don’t be “balat sibuyas” and you’ll be just fine.
- Because you practically spend more time with them than you would with your family, your team becomes your second family: your coaches are become your parents and your teammates like brothers. The dynamics that happens in an actual family are the same dynamics that happen in your college basketball family: coaches get mad at players, players occasionally get mad at the coaching staff as well, teammates getting into fights and the family sharing a common hate on another family. The success of a team in college basketball is very much dependent on the quality of relationships that exist within the team. And yes, sometimes the family that prays together, stays together.
- It is hard to get tickets for everyone, even if you are a player. Especially on a La Salle versus Ateneo game. If I was able to get you a ticket when I was playing, it means I really value our relationship.- You still have to study hard even if you are playing. We are students before athletes, although it helped when we were doing well and winning. Teachers tend to be more understanding with deadlines for papers and presentations.
- There is nothing like playing a LaSalle versus Ateneo game. Imagine close to 18,000 people watching. Now imagine half of those people on one side cursing at you, wanting you to fail. I swear on my very first LaSalle-Ateneo game, I felt goose bumps. I just literally stared at the massive crowd and “nanglula ako.” The rivalry and bitterness adds to the pressure of the game. However, it is really the passion and competition between the two programs that make it very special. You literally become a man after surviving performing well in a game such as this.
- It was always nice to see and watch yourself on television for the first time. I was like wow, I’m on TV!
- Just like the alumni, your closest friends are your harshest critics. I have had a handful of comments from them after a bad game. But I learned that when they are like this, it only means they really are your friends.
- The first game in college basketball is the most nerve-wracking! Players who aren’t used to it would play like headless chickens!- I would psyche myself to hate the opposing point guard of the other team all the time.
- When you like a girl in college or courting someone, it is always an advantage being a college basketball player- When a teacher asks for a ticket, make sure you get her one!
- The values I picked up and learned in playing college basketball are the very same values that I am carrying as I go through the up’s and down’s of the real world.
- Masarap maglaro ng college basketball. It is the venue where the boy in me eventually became a man.
