Both excited and anxious, that’s how Zach Huang feels just a couple of days before the PBA Rookie Draft.
“Mixed emotions. I’m excited and kinakabahan ako at the same time. Hindi ko ma-explain,” says the 6-foot-4 forward from Cebu.
“Dito kasi you don’t know where you are headed.”
The only thing certain in Huang’s mind is the significant possibility of not getting to be under his second father, Aldin Ayo.
For the last five years, Huang and Ayo have been inseparable.
The close bond between the teacher and the student started when Ayo took the post of University of Santo Tomas head coach back in 2018.
When Ayo left UST and took the position as the head trainer of Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas, the first player he got was Huang, who served as the do-it-all player of the team.
Though the two went their separate ways when Ayo transferred to Converge and Huang signed with PSL’s Pampanga Royce Hotel and, later on, San Juan’s MPBL, they remained close.
But come draft day, it is highly likely that Huang will be selected by a different team.
“Of course, malaking chance na sa ibang team ako mapunta. If I’m blessed to be picked by another team, I’ll do everything for that coach, just like what I did for Coach Aldin,” said the 26-year-old former Tiger.
“Pero yung friendship namin ni Coach Aldin, hindi naman mawawala yun even if I go to a different team.”
Huang admitted that his journey to get to this point has been a “hard journey.”
He had to work his way up at UST and then jumped from team to team since the pandemic.
And it’s the grind that made him the player that he is today.
“Talagang hard road.
“Pero I have no regrets because that is what made me who I am today,” closed Huang, who is represented by EOG.
