One year is a very long time. And young Joshua Ramirez knows this all too well.
Over a span of 12 months, the Letran High School product has gone from committing to Letran, to de-committing and transferring to La Salle, then de-committing again.
Despite his talents on the court, many have begun to question the 20-year-old’s character. Far Eastern University head coach Olsen Racela then requested one thing from Ramirez — his commitment to the school and his program.
“That’s one of the things that I asked from him, is the commitment,” said fourth-year Tamaraws head coach.
“He understands what happened to him. ‘Yun ‘yung binigay niya sa amin — commitment.”
Once Ramirez was able to show this to Racela, the PBA legend then laid out his plans for him. And he sees the 6-foot-4 winger as a potential building block for the next stage of his program.
As a tall and strong forward who can stretch the floor, Racela thinks Ramirez can fill the shoes eventually left by Ken Tuffin and Brandrey Bienes.
“Sa amin kasi, we feel that he is a big addition to our program, especially now that Tuffin and Bienes will play their last year. Joshua spreads the floor like the two,” said Racela.
“He is a big wing and can play the four.”
For their part, Racela and his staff have made sure to first knock on the doors of La Salle and Letran before enrolling the native of Tarlac in their school.
Seeing the work FEU did to get him, Ramirez has gotten his old confidence back. The only way he can repay the Tamaraws is to study and play for FEU in the next four or five years.
“He understands our program. Inexplain ko lahat sa kanya ‘yung plano namin for him. He can really contribute sa aming programa and he gets along really well with the players. ‘Yun ‘yung hiningi ko sa kanya, commitment.”
