Impossible is nothing

HE was a reed-thin boy at age 12 years and nine months who was just looking to do something during the summer following his Grade 6 graduation from Betty Go Belmonte Elementary School.

With the encouragement of a dear friend, coach Ricky Chua, who’s now based in California, this ambition-laden kid set foot at the campus of Philadelphia High School in Talayan Street in Quezon City for a walk-in tryout with the 18-Under Panthers varsity basketball team. It was a shot in the dark for he had no previous experience in organized basketball, an awkward southpaw with uncoordinated moves and limited skill set.

Two summers before, his dad had brought him to the high school gym Xavier School, the alma mater of his father, to play leisure ball for some physical activity and simply to sweat it out with his elder brother Matthew Lester during the dog-day afternoon of a sweltering summer.

Any other well-toned player in the gym on that day probably would be scratching their head in amazement how this kid would even have the guts to dabble in the sport for he was pint-sized and light-framed. At times, he could not even throw the rock into the ocean.

It was his first time ever to play the game that his father and elder brod was so enamored with then and even now at an advanced age.

While some underestimated the size of his heart, this boy was very determined to succeed in the sport if only to prove to himself that “impossible is nothing” with hard work and discipline.

That early, there were already telltale signs that this kid would soon be embracing basketball.

And so, off he was to Philadelphia HS in the summer (March) of 2015 for a walk-in tryout. With the perseverance of the coaching staff led by Simon Sim, Angelo So and Shaun Sim in teaching him the nuances of basketball-playing, this kiddo sharpened his craft slowly and surely with the grueling three-or four-times weekly training sessions he had been attending. The value of discipline and serious training by an athlete was inculcated in him by the coaches early on and he was determined to do the job well no matter what it took.

As a Grade 7 high-school freshman, the kid made the Philadelphia Juniors team for the first time that school year (2015-16) and also saw action with the Panthers 13-Under unit that reached the Federation quarterfinals. For good measure, he likewise grabbed a bronze medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in one track-and-field competition as a long-distance runner.

The following year (2016-17), he again moonlighted between the Panthers Juniors and 14-Under squad (which also advanced to the Fed quarters). His third year (2017-18) with the PHS Juniors was just as eventful for the team reached the quarterfinals of the Federation tournament.

And so it came to pass for the kid’s final act in a memorable four-year odyssey this season. In his swan song last March 9 during a game in the 13th Filipino Chinese Schools Alliance Basketball League, this now 16-year-old teenager chalked up 31 points – his third 30 points-or-more performance in the tournament – and collected nine rebounds and eight assists in a 64-55 victory over then-defending champion Philippine Chen Kuang High School in the latter’s San Juan City home floor to earn the Best Player of the Game citation.

Overall in eight appearances in the five-week tournament, the graduating Grade 10 stude with academic honors posted averages of 20.4 points (sixth-highest in the league), 4.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists (tops among all players) and 3.62 steals (league’s second best).

For his all-around efforts, he was named to the tournament’s Mythical Second Team in a fitting climax to his four-year varsity journey.

To the uninitiated, the student-athlete’s name is Justin Miguel Liao. And it just so happened that he is my son. Son, you have made your parents and siblings proud. Now, it’s on to the next journey.