Jack Animam has had herself a collegiate career that spanned six years and two universities.
But for every win she notched and every trophy she collected, she had a coach guiding her along the way. And for the 22-year-old, it’s National University head coach Patrick Aquino and Shih Hsin University head coach He Zhengfeng.
According to Animam, He is a very stern head coach, just like Aquino.
“I guess talagang every game meron kaming kailangan ma-achieve,” Animam told So She Did! presented by SMART Sports.
“Like for example, maka-offensive rebound ‘yung kalaban, bawal sila maka-three points ng madami. Kailangan talaga namin dumipensa. As in ‘yun ‘yung point niya, defense. Kaya full-court press kami all the way.”
Moreover, her role with He was different from what she was accustomed to with Aquino.
During her five years in NU, Animam was more of a post player. In SHU, though, she learned how to extend her game.
“Sa NU, pag-pick and roll kami, kailangan lagi akong nagro-roll — lagi akong naglalaro sa loob and everything. Dito hindi,” she continued.
“Kailangan ‘pag nag-pick and roll kami, hindi ako makaka-roll agad kasi may isa pa akong teammate sa baba. So I need to improve shooting kasi dito pwede ako tumira.”
Animam posted numbers of 17.1 points, 2.6 steals, and 1.9 blocks per contest. It’s the most points she has averaged for a season.
At the end of the day, the Lady Bulldogs and the Tigers have a lot of similarities.
Besides the color of their teams, the culture and the schemes are almost identical.
“We love to run.
“I mean kung ‘yung paano kami sa NU — like the way we play in NU — I can see the same in SHU team. Like sa NU, kumpleto lahat — shooting outside, inside, defense. Same lang din dito sa SHU. Some of our plays sa NU similar lang din, medyo parehas dito. Kaya I guess medyo nakukuha ko agad ‘yung mga plays,” she said.
At the end of the day, it seemed that Animam never really left home as she still did in Taiwan what she was doing over here, and that is to dominate.
