With a team that has eight players with PBA experience, many expect Troy Rosario, a sophomore with the TNT Katropa, to serve as the team’s leader. However, many forget that Kiefer Ravena, though not in the PBA yet, is the cager with the most SEA Games experience with three gold medals to back it up.
And the 23-year-old combo guard plans to be the one imparting his experience to the 12-man lineup that will compete in the regional meet that will start on August 19.
“It’s been six years since I first played in the SEA Games. I was 17 years old and sila Coach Norman [Black] coach namin nun,” Ravena recalled about the team that copped gold in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“This is something we really look forward to every two years, yung SEA Games, to be hopefully the best in terms of basketball in Southeast Asia.”
The two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player has yet to see the team’s lineup but from what he saw Tuesday night, he admitted that the team is very young.
“I haven’t really seen the line-up yet. But if it’s this team, ito mismo, it’s a very, very young team. It’s Kevin [Ferrer], Ray [Parks], and I who have the most experience in the SEA Games. Kevin is going for his third, Parks his second, I’m going on my fourth,” the native of Ilo-ilo, who is gunning for a SEA Games basketball record of four gold medals, said.
Based on his experience, the Gilas cadet knows that the country’s Southeast Asian neighbors have vastly improved. And Ravena has taken on the responsibility to tell his teammates what to expect in the tournament.
“I guess It’s very important to share that knowledge, share that glory na ito yung mararamdaman mo sa SEA Games. It’s not gonna be a walk in the park, tulad ng sinasabi nila na sure-ball yan, it won’t,” Ravena warned.
But even if the second-generation has been named to the team, he is not resting on his laurels, as coach Chot Reyes shared that changes might still come.
“Hopefully I get to repay the trust that Coach Chot [Reyes] has given me, especially na ako yung isa sa mga bago dito sa team. But as he was saying inside the huddle, nothing is final yet. There might be some changes, something might happen, and I just have to be ready,” the Ateneo alumnus said.
“But as of now, my sight is on that gold medal. Yun ang kailangan naming magawa”
