The Philippines has always been a hotbed of athletic talent that’s known to always be able to succeed in different sports. Whether homegrown or internationally trained, Filipinos are known to excel and to be a legitimate force for whichever sport they engage in.
Names such as Efren “Bata” Reyes, Manny Pacquiao, Bong Coo, Ramon Fernandez, and Paulino Alcantara evoke the spirit of past Filipino glory. Their achievements and accomplishments speak highly of the kind of talent Filipinos possess, but a new, hungry breed of Filipino athletes want to push the boundaries further; athletes that have truly gone above and beyond to fully define what a Filipino is capable of.
Hoop Dreams
Basketball is, most probably, the biggest sport in the Philippines, and the Philippine Basketball Association is known as Asia’s first professional basketball league. The league has been known to be the proving ground for where young men strive to create a lasting career, but this recently changed.
With Thirdy Ravena choosing to be a trailblazer by plying his wares in Japan. His own brother, Kiefer, and the Gomez-De Llano brothers have chosen to do the same, with all these young men wanting to push their boundaries against competition a notch above our local league. Young guns Kai Sotto and LeBron Lopez have gone to Australia and the United States, respectively, to play professionally and possibly have a shot to make it to the National Basketball Association, the pinnacle of professional basketball.
In the NBA are 3 Filipino-Americans who proudly wear the badge of bearing Filipino heritage: Twins Cody and Caleb Martin of the Charlotte Hornets and 2021 Sixth Man of The Year award winner Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz.
Finally…Gold
If there’s one thing that brings them all together, it’s the resilience that Filipinos naturally possess, and this is far more evident in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as our homegrown Hidilyn Diaz won our country its first-ever Olympic gold medal.
Having gone through different challenges and obstacles while training for the Olympics, Hidilyn, just like all of these athletes, showed passion, determination, and heart; more than enough of it to match her skills and abilities. Another thing that Hidilyn proved with her win is that, no matter what gender you may be, your accomplishments will always be valuable. This puts her in rare air in the annals of Philippine sports; one where only men were thought to be able to achieve and overcome.
All these athletes seek personal accomplishments, but these accomplishments are always celebrated by our country because of how we see each other: Perseverant, resilience, passion; traits that will forever define how Filipinos truly are.
Like them, Century Properties aims to always embody these traits; being able to grow, learn, and adapt to new challenges which may come our way. Just like this new breed of athletes, we come from a generation that wants to strongly represent what Filipinos can do, a generation that takes pride in being Filipino and pushing the boundaries of what we can do, not just for ourselves, but to make every Filipino proud.
