Thirdy Ravena blazes own trail toward UAAP greatness

Thirdy Ravena went from being the younger brother to arguably one of the greatest Ateneo players of his generation.

The Blue Eagles superstar etched his name as the league’s only three-time Finals MVP after he led Ateneo to a sweep of University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball Finals – doing it as his own man.

Ravena, a one-time high school MVP, carried much hype heading into his first year as a Blue Eagle but his rookie season was largely forgettable, playing under the shadow of his older brother Kiefer.

And it wasn’t until Tab Baldwin’s arrival that Ravena learned to play his game and realize his potential.

“I think what happened was I took myself out of my brother’s shadow, not just this year but ever since coach Tab came in,” said Ravena after Ateneo’s 86-79 victory over the Growling Tigers in Game 2 Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.

The 22-year-old Ravena said it was Baldwin, who pushed him to blaze his own trail and not be pressured to follow in the footsteps of his brother and dad, Bong Ravena, who was also a basketball star.

“He (Baldwin) said that the biggest pressure shouldn’t be trying to be like my brother or my dad but it should be being myself and being the best player that I can be,” said Ravena, who had 17 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

“With that I effectively removed myself from my brother’s shadow and focus on how I could be the best player I could possibly be, not just for myself but for my teammates.”

Playing true to form, Ravena averaged 24.5 points on 55 percent shooting from the field, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists in the finals.

“For me, it’s not even about accomplishments. It’s about trying to work for something and not trying to be like someone,” said Ravena. “I’m just trying to be the best version of me.”

https://sports.inquirer.net/374209/thirdy-ravena-blazes-own-trail-toward-uaap-greatness

Mark Nonoy says finals loss will be UST’s motivation in UAAP Season 83

University of Santo Tomas’ inspiring run in the UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball tournament has come to an end after losing to Ateneo 86-79 in Game 2 of the championship round.

The Growling Tigers got swept in their first finals appearance since 2015 and Mark Nonoy, the Rookie of the Year, said the defeat will serve as the team’s fuel come Season 83.

“This will be our motivation going forward to achieve our goal,” said Nonoy in Filipino Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena. “Although we lost three seniors today, what we did was for them and we’ll also dedicate our campaign next year to them.”

UST lost seniors Renzo Subido, Zachy Huang, and Enrique Caunan due to graduation but the superstar duo of Nonoy and Season MVP Soulemane Chabi Yo will still be with the team.

Captain CJ Cansino and Rookie of the Year runner-up Sherwin Concepcion are still in the fold.

Nonoy and the rest of the Growling Tigers flew under the radar heading into the season but they emerged as the fourth seeds after the elimination round with an 8-6 record.

The Growling Tigers then, went through a gauntlet in the stepladder semifinals, beating Far Eastern University and University of the Philippines in knockout duels en route to the finals where they were once again the underdogs.

Ateneo walloped UST, 91-77, in the finals opener before fending off the Tigers to clinch its third consecutive crown.

“I think it hurts because we didn’t get our goal but we will bring this pain next year season,” said Nonoy who had 14 points, six rebounds, and five assists in Game 2. “We will prepare not just for the silver, but for the gold.”

https://sports.inquirer.net/374122/mark-nonoy-says-finals-loss-will-be-ust-motivation-uaap-season-83

Ateneo makes UAAP history, sweeps UST for 3rd straight title

The Ateneo Blue Eagles celebrate after becoming the first team in the UAAP to complete a 16-0 sweep following an 86-79 win over the UST Growling Tigers in Game 2 of the UAAP Season 82 men’s basketball Finals on Wednesday, November 20, 2019, at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Finding stiff resistance this time around, the Ateneo Blue Eagles played with poise, composure and the aggression that champions are made of.

The Eagles completed a historic 16-game sweep in UAAP history with a dramatic 86-79 victory over the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers in Game 2 for their third straight crown before a mammoth crowd at MOA Arena.

Thirdy Ravena delivered a solid follow up to his 32-point explosion in Game 1, finishing with 17 points including critical baskets in the final period, while SJ Belangel tallied a career-best 15 points as the Eagles found answers to every punch thrown by the gritty Tigers.

The Eagles began the season with huge expectations after keeping the core of the team that won the last two titles. They knew they had to back it up with solid performances.

Time and again, Ateneo, under the guidance of Tab Baldwin, proved more than equal to every challenge, culminating with a tremendous Game 2 performance against a UST team that refused to quit.

An emotional Ravena stood at the top of LED board right in front of the Ateneo gallery and raised two hands in the air, drawing cheers from a delirious blue-clad crowd.

Ravena earned Finals MVP honors for the third straight season after averaging 24.5 points in the series.

https://sports.inquirer.net/374139/ateneo-makes-uaap-history-sweeps-ust-for-3rd-straight-title-uaap-season-82

UAAP stars’ journey from home to limelight in “DAYORIES”

For the love of family and the sport of basketball, three collegiate superstars dared to leave their comfort zones to make their dreams come true.

Ange Kouame of the Ateneo Blue Eagles, Rhenz Abando of the UST Growling Tigers, and Ricci Rivero of the UP Fighting Maroons are ready to tell the stories behind their inspiring journey to the biggest stage yet of their young basketball careers in the iWant original sports documentary “Dayories.”

Produced by iWant with the ABS-CBN Sports Digital team and director Enzo Marcos, “Dayories” traces the roots of Ange, Ricci, and Rhenz and the grit and grind it took for them to make an impact in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the country’s premier collegiate league.

The first episode, which is now streaming on iWant, focuses on the big man from the Ateneo de Manila University. Born and raised in Africa, Ange has been living in the Philippines since 2016, to get his education and pursue his NBA dream.

The 21-year old immediately won the respect of the UAAP community in UAAP Season 81, where he won Rookie of the Year and helped his team defend their title, overcoming the language barrier and the difficulty of being away from his mother.

This season, he has been an unstoppable force inside the paint, and one of the main reasons behind Ateneo’s unblemished record and ongoing run for the crown.

The second episode features highly-touted small forward Ricci, who shares the challenges he encountered transferring schools from the De La Salle University to the University of the Philippines Diliman, starting all over again in terms of his academics and adjusting his game to fit in a team loaded with talent and alphas in the court. Outside the court, the spotlight continues to focus on the Tourism major, who’s also a product endorser and a budding actor and host.

Viewers will also get to know more about Rhenz, a Pangasinan native whose meteoric rise from being an unknown recruit to one of the league’s most exciting players is one of this season’s best storylines. The rookie’s rumored transfer mid-season gave him his first taste of the downside of fame, but with the help of his team he was able to regain his focus and made it to his first finals appearance.

They all left home, sacrificed comfort, put in extra work, in pursuit of a goal and a life-long dream. Along the way, they found success and more importantly, they found a new home and new family.

Watch “Dayories” on iWant starting with the first episode featuring Ange Kouame available now on ABS-CBN’s streaming platform iWant. For more information, follow @iWant on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or go to iwant.ph or download the iWant app.

https://sports.abs-cbn.com/uaap/news/2019/11/20/uaap-starsa-journey-home-limelight-dayoriesa-63539

Phil Younghusband retires

PHIL YOUNGHUSBAND, considered as the face of Philippine football, announced his retirement on Monday. The country’s all-time leading goal scorer called it quits at 32. Younghusband made his statement in his Instragram post.

“Hanging up my boots! Thank you to my bosses, my coaches, teammates, competitors and all the supporters who have been part of my journey. See you all soon in a new adventure,” the Chelsea academy graduate wrote in his post.

Younghusband had a stellar 13-year stint on the international stage, posting the country’s record best of 52 goals. He also holds the most national team appearances with 108 matches.

Younghusband was a team reserve of Chelsea before he was recruited for the Southeast Asian Games in 2005 in Bacolod, where he scored all of goals in the Azkals’ 2-4 loss to Malaysia.

Younghusband took over as the leader of the national team three years ago to clinch its first-ever Asian Football Confederation Cup Q appearance with a 2-1 victory over Tajikistan at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in 2018, which also marked his 50th international goal.

His elder brother James, meanwhile, is still playing for Ceres Negros.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/11/20/phil-younghusband-retires/

Greatest Filipino athletes in SEA Games: Miguel Molina, the face of PH swimming

MIGUEL Molina earned his rightful place as part of Philippine swimming’s greats with his accomplishments in the Southeast Asian Games.

Following the footsteps of big names as Eric Buhain, Akiko Thomson, and Ryan Papa, Molina collected 11 gold medals in his SEA Games career as he became the face of the sport in the Philippines during the 2000s.

A product of University of California-Berkeley, Molina, born in the Philippines and raised in Tokyo, began competing for the Philippines in the SEA Games in 2001, but started winning gold medals in 2003 when he ruled two events.

In front of home fans, Molina picked up three gold medals when the country hosted the SEA Games in 2005 in the aquatics competitions held at the Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños, Laguna.

The peak of his career in the biennial meet came in 2007 when Molina grabbed four gold medals in Nakhon Ratchasima, winning the 200-meter breaststroke, the 200-meter individual medley, the 400-meter individual medley, and the 4x100-meter medley relay.

Molina added two more gold medals in 2009 in Laos, which turned out to be his last as the pool star announced his retirement in 2011 at a young age of 26.

Aside from his performance in the SEA Games, Molina competed in the Asian Games where he missed podium finishes in 2006 in Doha and 2010 in Guangzhou. He also qualified in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, where he was supposed to be the flag bearer of the Philippines in the opening ceremony only to give way to Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao.

His resume, however, in the SEA Games remained etched in the minds of the Philippine swimming community.

https://www.spin.ph/multisport/sea-games/greatest-filipino-athletes-in-sea-games-miguel-molina-a795-20191119

Transcript of the manifestations of Senator Pia S. Cayetano during the plenary deliberations on the budget of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC)

On the Class 1 certification of the New Clark City (NCC) Athletic Stadium

I am personally aware, because I followed its construction, that the New Clark City stadium has a Class 1 international certification. To be able to get that, aside from the main track oval, [there is] another track oval. Because you need a warm-up track beside the main track so people can practice before their event.

In addition to that, under the bleachers, there is an 18-meter track so that they can do their last-minute warm up. So to be able to do that in the Rizal Memorial Complex, they would have to demolish either the multi-purpose building or other structures. I am just putting that into perspective because [the NCC] has open space.

And one more thing [as a former student-athlete], aside from running around the track oval, the NCC allows them to run in a park-like environment outside. It looks like you are in nature as opposed to running in sadly - maybe we can rehabilitate it one day - the Roxas Boulevard. That's the main difference that I'd like to put on the floor as somebody who appreciates the NCC.

How important are the NCC sports facilities to national athletes

You know, when I went there on a couple of occasions, one time, I was with the National Track Team, they were crying when they stepped on the turf. Kasi, sabi nila, nagte-training sila sa Pangasinan... they are not even training in Metro Manila because they have no decent track to train on.

I don't really know the condition of the track either. I don't even train regularly anymore. But when I stepped on the track, ibang klase para kang lumulutang.

Then sabi ko, here are these athletes, this is their job, this is their life. And ngayon lang sila nakatikim ng ganun. So it really felt so good to be able to see on their faces, in their smiles, in their actions that they were full of joy to be able to do this.

And something that I found very interesting was that in the years and decades to come, they don't have to travel abroad to qualify for other international events because we can host those events now.

For now, we don't host any events because we're not qualified in any event. So not only do we not have these international events to encourage young people to see what athletic life is like, our athletes even have to go abroad just to qualify for another event.

I also had the opportunity to see the swimmers. There have already been national swimming competitions in the pool. Again, just like the track, you have a 50-meter, 10-lane pool and then there's another pool for warm up that's 50 meters long and 8 lanes. So it kinda looks excessive if you ask me, until you learn that that is the requirement to be a certified Class 1 sports facility. Ganun talaga if we want to not just host the events, but treat our athletes like the heroes we say they are. But we don't treat them as such.

So on that note, one last point... Because I actually have my own friends who are athletes, I also get asked: Is it excessive? Is it overpriced? I am not asking this question because my brother is the Speaker of the House, but it's a question I'd like to hear the answer to so that I can also explain to my friends, to my constituents, to my athlete friends and the athletes that I feel I represent.

Thank you.

Third time’s the charm

A QUICK look at Thirdy Ravena’s University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) accolades underscores just how prolific his career has been. On the individual level, he has a UAAP Juniors’ Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophy and a pair of UAAP Seniors’ Mythical Five selections, finishing in the top 10 of the MVP race every year since 2016. But his crowning achievement is his championships in UAAP Seasons 80 and 81, where he won the Finals MVP in each of those two title series.

Thirdy’s award count is historically significant. His current Finals MVP haul of two is tied with Arwind Santos, Jeron Teng, and Nico Salva for most ever since the league started handing out the award in 2001, meaning that Thirdy has the chance to make UAAP history with another Finals MVP plum in the 2019 UAAP Finals.

This is why the graduating forward’s place in the annals of Ateneo and UAAP basketball history is unquestionable. Thirdy will hang up his jersey as one of the greatest to ever don the Blue and White—an incredible conclusion to his collegiate career considering how it started. His road to success was one that was marked with pressure, struggle, and disappointment—much of these he endured until early in his Seniors career.

Back in 2014, there was a lot of hype surrounding Thirdy’s jump to the Blue Eagles in UAAP Season 77. He was coming off a sensational senior year in the Blue Eaglets as the UAAP Season 76 Juniors’ MVP. The 6’3” forward was set to bolster a championship-contending squad that featured star forward Chris Newsome, fellow blue-chip recruit Arvin Tolentino, and most notably, his older brother and the face of the team, Kiefer Ravena.

Thirdy Ravena with his brother, Kiefer, before a game in UAAP Season 77. File Photo by Francine A. Bharwani

While the team enjoyed a first-place finish in the elimination round, the younger Ravena disappointed. In his limited 7.2 minutes per game, he averaged a lowly 1.4 points and 1.6 rebounds per game and shot just 28% from the field. Thirdy’s career then took another downward turn in the season that followed, as he was deemed academically ineligible to play for the Blue Eagles in UAAP Season 78. This notably deprived him of the chance for another shot at glory in his older brother’s final year.

For a time, the young forward saw that season as his worst. Nowadays, Thirdy sees it as a year well-spent. He says that the time away from the team enabled him to have his best year in terms of academics, bulk-up his body, and polish his game even further.

“That second year was good for me. Some people think it was bad [because] it was the last playing year of my brother [Kiefer] and I wasn’t able to play with him,” Thirdy recalls. “But for me, I actually had time to work on myself and on my craft both on and off the court.”

Thirdy Ravena taking a three in a UAAP Season 77 game versus Adamson University. File Photo by Ryan Y. Racca.

Thirdy also had to deal with the pressure that stemmed from the success of his father Bong, who was a two-time Philippine Basketball Association All-Star, and his aforementioned brother Kiefer, a two-time UAAP MVP. While Thirdy saw these familial pressures as motivation, it also became a source of self-doubt. Things changed in 2016 with the arrival of Head Coach Tab Baldwin, who helped Thirdy turn the corner and channel the pressure in a positive manner.

“[Coach Tab] really changed my focus. He talked to me about understanding pressure, where to put it in my life, how I can make the most about that pressure,” Thirdy says. “He was one of the reasons I became more confident in myself.”

Thirdy credits the multi-award winning mentor for helping him rely less on his physical tools. “Before I met Coach Tab, I thought I could get away with my athleticism,” he says. Under Baldwin’s tutelage, Thirdy began to take more of a mental approach to the game instead of trying to outjump and outmuscle the much more physically-advanced opponents in the Seniors’ division.

Behind a renewed sense of how to play the game—and a much bigger, leaner frame—Thirdy found the formula to set him up for success in his UAAP career. He was a completely different player when he returned to the playing court in UAAP Season 79. Thirdy led the Blue and White to a surprise Finals berth and runner-up finish versus the dominant La Salle en route to his first Mythical Five award.

Thirdy followed up his 2016 breakout season with an even better UAAP Season 80 campaign, where he finished second in the MVP race and more importantly, drove Ateneo to their first title since 2012. Thirdy led the way in all three games, capped off by a 17-point, eight-rebound performance in Game 3 on his way to his first Finals MVP award. He earned championship-Finals MVP a second time in UAAP Season 81,  punctuated by a career-best 38 points in Game 2 of the UAAP Finals.

In Season 82, Thirdy and the Blue Eagles finished with the first 14-0 slate in the program’s history to garner an automatic bid to the finals. After his 32-point showing in Ateneo’s Game 1 rout of UST, the storybook ending for Thirdy’s career is on the horizon.

But Thirdy’s not thinking about any of that. He remains focused on the task at hand, which is to win another championship and complete the three-peat. “Right now, I have no emotions. Honestly I’m trying to avoid it as much as I can [because] we still have games to go and I can’t be all emotional about something that’s not yet finished,” he says.

Thirdy will likely depart from the Blue Eagles as the defining player of this Ateneo basketball era. He was never as polished offensively as his older brother and benefited immensely by playing under the Tab Baldwin, but he excelled, amidst the pressures and early struggles, to become the best version of himself—a version that laid waste to the rest of the UAAP. We are down to the last one or two games of Thirdy Ravena’s UAAP career. Enjoy it while it lasts.

http://www.theguidon.com/1112/main/2019/11/third-times-the-charm/