COVERING high school basketball competitions among Chinese-rooted Filipino schools in the Metro Manila area has been my cup of tea for nearly two decades now.
It’s fun and enjoyable seeing youthful players battle purely for school pride and glory with the name sewed in front of their uniforms as their war badge.
As for this aging dinosaur who can easily sing the first eight lines from Beatle Paul McCartney’s “When I’m Sixty-Four” ditty, covering the games is like hitting two birds with one stone; you get to watch the games and write about them for thousands of reasons.
Currently, I am at the Philippine Chen Kuang High School during weekends to cover competitions in the 13th Filipino Chinese Schools Alliance Basketball League or known simply as the Alliance Basketball League.
For the tournament to make it past a decade speaks highly of Streamson Dela Cruz, the league founder and concurrent Chen Kuang head coach.
“Promoting youth basketball at the grassroots level has been my sports advocacy in life and more than a decade after I helped establish the Alliance, the passion has not waned a bit,” said the 56-year-old Dela Cruz who is in the computer business.
Dela Cruz may be a battle-scarred organizer of the Alliance and other basketball tournaments in the Chi-Fil community, but the support of kindhearted friends from the business sector such as Plastic Planet General Merchandise, America Panel Board, Jumbolita Homeware, Surer, Don Luis Philippine Black Garlic, Beverly Homes, Xarion Mondes Professional Elite world-class kitchen utensil, Apco Hardware, New Spec Computer and Ceramica de Milano has been heartwarming.
They all are a part of the tournament’s success.
On the games themselves, only three teams remain unbeaten after four playdates in the nine-school, single round-robin Juniors Division competitions of the FCSABL.
They are two-time defending titlist Philippine Chen Kuang High School (4-0), Philippine Sun Yat Sen High (3-0) and Quezon City Christian Academy (3-0).
The other teams in the Juniors Division are MGC New Life Christian Academy (2-2), Jubilee Christian Academy (1-2), Philippine Pasay Chung Hua Academy (1-2), CCF Life Academy (1-3), Philippine Institute of Quezon City (1-3) and Philadelphia High School (0-4).
Meanwhile, there are five entries in the 12-Under Developmental Division, which opened last Sunday with defending champion MGC NLCA trouncing Philippine Institute of Quezon City, 54-33.
Other teams taking part in the 12-Under games are Philippine Chen Kuang High School, Jubilee Christian Academy and Philadelphia High School.