There is no doubt that basketball is the main sport of the Philippines.
So many different avenues are available for Filipinos to play in whether in the grassroots competitions, collegiate, and professional leagues or just a simple pickup game on the street.
However, one thing that Philippine basketball could be better with is the involvement of women in the sport.
There is still no proper professional league for women nor a semi-pro one. Unlike their male counterparts, women have no league to play in once they graduate.
Recently, though, there has been attention afforded to female cagers. Perlas Pilipinas bagged the gold medal in the 2015 SEABA Championship and elevating the country to FIBA Division I while PBA teams have fielded sister squads for three-on-three halftime games.
The past two weeks, though, have seen the UAAP Season 79 Women’s Basketball Tournament Finals between eventual three-peat champions National University and De La Salle University shown live on national TV.
The champion coach of both Perlas Pilipinas and NU, Pat Aquino, is well-versed to talk about the growth of women’s basketball in the Philippines and he has been pleased with the developments he has seen.
“Siguro I’m just happy for women’s basketball here. It’s been gathering attention already. Hopefully it continues and goes big as I imagine it to be like Shakey’s V-League or the PSL for women’s basketball,” commented Aquino.
Aquino added, “Hopefully the program pushes through for the WPBA and getting the first SEA Games basketball gold medal and yung FIBA, we’ve been preparing so well for that also.”
In a sense, women’s basketball in the Philippines is still in its infancy. There are still so many things to achieve and a lot of milestones to record.
Nevertheless, the future is bright.
“Basta masayang-masaya ako for the girls and the future of women’s basketball in the Philippines,” opined Aquino.
