Jared Bahay. | contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines—Amidst the highly competitive and demanding local basketball scene, Jared Bahay is emerging as one of the country’s top high school prospects.
The 18-year-old incoming 12th grader from Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City stole the spotlight of the country’s high school basketball scene in the past few years after reaping many achievements at a young age.
Bahay, the team captain of the many-time Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) high school basketball champions, the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles, has a long list of awards and trophies.
Some of his most notable feats were the Cesafi finals MVP, the Palarong Pambansa gold medal, and being ranked No. 1 high school prospect by the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC).
These achievements made Bahay popular not just in Cebu but also in Manila.
For Bahay, being this popular makes him feel dumbfounded.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect to become this popular at all. I appreciate all the people who supported me,” said Bahay.
He became more popular when he committed to the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons.
Still, Bahay remained humble and honored those who influenced him to play basketball.
“I have a basketball family, from my brothers to my cousins and now me. They influenced me to play basketball,” he said.
“I started playing basketball when I was 7 years old. I was joining the Cebu elite basketball camp, which was run by USC coaches in coach Largo, coach Vernini, and the other coaches.”
Besides making jaw-dropping highlight reels on the hardcourt, Bahay is a lowkey wanderlust. This young basketball star loves to travel and visit places.
“Besides basketball, I love traveling to other countries because I want to experience and see other cultures and also watching movies because I am a homebody,” said Bahay, whose idol in the NBA is LeBron James.
/bmjo
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