Three Cebuanos will be playing for flag and country in the Philippine National Under-18 Squad that will be competing in the 2016 Southeast Asian Basketball Association Under-18 Championship in Medan, Indonesia later this month.
Making the cut are former Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu ace and current National University Bulldog Joshua Sinclair, ex-University of the Visayas forward and also current Bulldog Theo Joshua Flores and former University of Southern Philippines Foundation and now-San Beda Red Lion JB Bahio.
Reached for an interview, the affable Sinclair said that the road to making the national squad has been anything but rosy; starting with his moving from Australia to Cebu and then to Manila. But he said the honor of representing the Philippines is worth it.
“Representing the country has been a goal of mine ever since I started playing basketball,” he said. “People think that I only want to be in the team because I’m half-Australian or I don’t want it as much as pure Filipinos but that’s completely incorrect. I wholeheartedly devoted myself to this goal ever since moving here. I take huge pride in representing the Philippines. In my mind, I want it just as bad or more than pure Filipinos. Representing the country is the biggest privilege ever to me and I won’t ever take it for granted.”
Bahio, meanwhile, shared the same feeling.
“It was always a dream for me to play for the Philippine Team. Now, I’m here. Going to play for team.”
Flores was equally stunned by the news.
“I feel so blessed. When I was younger, I always hoped to play for the national team and finally it’s happening. I’m just really blessed.”