WHEN I was 15 years old more than 16,000 moons ago, I was in third year high at Xavier School and a TH (trying hard) hoops practitioner whose greatest accomplishment at the time was making it to Team C basketball intramurals of our year level.
Team A was made up of the best players (if it were a grade-point system, the percentages will be from 91-100). Team B was for the above average or average (from 81-90). And Team C, I leave it to the readers for judgment.
I was in Team C for various reasons. Where height is might, I was not tall. Where weight is valuable, I was a lightweight. And where athleticism and fundamental skills are huge assets, I owned neither of the two.
Times are so different now. My dreams of making it big in basketball – even when I stood no taller than 5-foot-3 during my prime and until now I have maintained a reed-thin frame – have not been in vain, and still alive somewhat.
That’s because Justin Miguel, my cat-quick 12-year-old, 5-foot-1 son who’s just graduated from Grade 6, is suiting up for the Burlington Socks-supported Philadelphia High School team in the 12-and-Under division of the Beato Antonio Varona Invitational League that is slated to start on Sunday (April 26) morning at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Gym in Intramuros, Manila.
Also a part of the month-long festivities, which are being organized Letran coach RJ Guevara and came to being a year ago as the Dominican Invitational League, are the 15-and-Under competitions which will be held simultaneously with the 12-and-Under games.
As many as a dozen schools will be participating in the twin age divisions. Among them are Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Adamson University, University of Santo Tomas, Chiang Kai Shek College, Saint Stephen’s High School, Philadelphia High School and host Letran.
The 15-and-Under Philadelphia High School squad, which is mentored by school athletic director and head coach Simon Sim and his hardworking assistants Angelo So and Shaun Sim, expects to make a lot of noises in the tournament.
The Panthers are built around holdovers Phillip Jason Midel, Lennard Siam Dela Cruz and Ronnie James Yap, comebacking Alex Nolasco and newcomers Mark Tan, Nevin P. Santiago, Lance Abaja, Lance Chung, James Michael Nitafan, Broy Dela Cruz (Lennard’s younger brother), Aaron Dy and Jaycee Alvarado.
The Talayan Village, Quezon City-based school has lost John Wilbert Midel (Phillip Jason’s elder sibling), Kerwin James Huang, Charles Yap, Mark Joshua Sayarot and Bryan So (coach Angelo’s younger brother) to graduation.
Simon Sim became the school’s athletic director and head coach in mid-November following the departure of venerable bench tactician Ricky Chua to the United States. Sim took over the two posts late in the 17th Metropolitan Amateur Sports Association (MASA) high school basketball tournament, where the Panthers finished sixth among eight schools.
In their final MASA assignment at the time, former Grace Christian College cager Angelo So came aboard to join Simon’s coaching staff, and before a friendly crowd at the newly-constructed PHS Gym, the Panthers walloped Philippine Cultural College, 114-49, for the largest winning margin and highest team score in the tournament won by Chiang Kai Shek College.
Phillip Jason Midel collected 19 points, three rebounds and three assists (behind elder brod John Wilbert’s 28 points, 10 rebounds and four steals), Dela Cruz produced a double-double with 17 points and 12 boards and RJ Yap totaled 13 markers.
PJ Midel wound up as Philadelphia’s second-leading scorer in the tournament with a 10.3-point average.
With the graduated seniors gone, PJ Midel, RJ Yap and Dela Cruz are now expected to carry the brunt of the Panthers’ scoring chores in the Beato Antonio Varona Invitational League.