XSPB FEATURE

Memoirs of a Basketball Mom
Gina Datu, parent

Posted Friday, 24-Nov-2006 7:22 AM

     Since my son Julio made it to the XS Basketball Varsity Team, I have been asked countless  times what I did for him to qualify, as if I had a lot to do with his acceptance to the team. 

     If ever I had some participation, it was knowing Dr. John Sy, the school dentist who was also the Athletics Coordinator then. I approached him and asked for the date of the tryouts and the rest, as they say, is history.

     But don’t get me wrong, my son didn’t get accepted because I personally knew Dr. Sy.  My son went through the rigorous training three summers ago.  Out of 100-or-so aspirants, their number was cut down to 50, then to 30, then to 20, until finally they chose their 15 players. 

     Each time they had to cut down the number of players, I was the one who got excited and nervous.  That time, knowing John did not help at all. He never told me the outcome; all he said was “Have faith in your son”. 

     The training lasted the whole summer.  The boys sacrificed a lot.  While they were working rigorously, their friends and classmates were out somewhere having fun at the beach, out of town, or out of the country.  As in the case of Julio, he cancelled a trip to Australia in favor of the training.

     Once accepted, training continued even during school days, at times lasting three hours or more, depending on their performance from the previous game or during practice.

     Weekends were gone.  We scheduled our family day around the games.  Our family out-of-town trips were going to Alabang or Mamplasan --- for a game.  We even had a weekend uniform: yellow or gold shirt for the games.   Of course, the five other siblings complained.  When they wanted to go someplace or do something else, there was nothing we could do.  When Julio signed up for the team, we promised to support him all the way.

     If a player had problems with academics, naturally, his focus in the game was affected. The players knew that their playing time would be limited or worse, they would never see court action while they had failing grades. That’s one thing good about Xavier School: they will never sacrifice academics for a trophy.

     My son, in his freshman year, had to juggle between academics and sports.  Not only was he in the varsity team, he was also in the Science Advanced Class.  He would come home from practice tired and hungry, go right to sleep, only to wake up at 1:00 a.m. to do his assignments and projects. I know the habit was awful but my son coped nonetheless.

     And it wasn’t so bad.  Watching the games developed some kind of bonding for us. In fact, in the three years that my son played in the varsity, our family has since grown closer.  Moreover, we developed friendships with other families.

    I also developed fondness for each and every player in our son’s team. Suddenly, they all became my sons. I can feel their anger, their frustrations, and their happiness. I realized that these boys who appeared so tough in the court were not so tough after all.  I saw them cry big tears when they lost; and witnessed their joy when they won.

    All of these experiences that my son had as a player and me as a basketball mom will forever be in our memories. As I have learned a lot from it, so has my son, I'm sure.  He realized that discipline is the key to becoming the best player. He learned to value time. He realized that in basketball, a few seconds will make a lot of difference.

     I am certain that he now knows the importance of being a team player; that basketball is not won because the team has the bigger players or the best ball handler but because they played as a team; and that each and every member gave his all for the team and not solely for himself.

   Although he learned these lessons the hard and painful way, these lessons will be invaluable when he goes out to the real world to face the greater challenge: life itself.

Go back to the top ^