Gilas Pilipinas Basketball

As the game clock ticked down inside the Filoil Flying V Centre and the rabid army of Filipino fans began chanting jubilantly after a last-second heave from Thailand which wouldn’t have counted anyway, members of the Gilas Pilipinas Women 3×3 national team — Afril Bernardino, Clare Castro, and Janine Pontejos — formed a circle, shouted ecstatically, and started celebrating for the country’s gold medal finish in the first-ever 3×3 basketball event of the 30th Southeast Asian Games Philippines 2019.

But just as all of that unfolded, the team’s fourth member, Jack Danielle Animam, instead fell on her knees, nodded, and held her head as tears streamed down her face.

Eventually caught up in the moment, Animam stood back up, joined her teammates’ circle, and likewise jumped up and down, as pandemonium hit the venue.

Two weeks before the spectacle, Animam — a 5-time UAAP champion — was stuck in New Zealand.

She had sustained an orbital injury her right eye in one of their games in the FIBA Asia-Oceania Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournaments for Women, and was forced to stay longer in the land down under than expected.

At that time, her teammates from the Gilas Pilipinas Women’s national team, had already left to head back home.

Back in Manila, Animam’s National University Lady Bulldogs just made history once more by winning an unprecedented sixth straight UAAP women’s basketball title, doing it in undefeated fashion to go 96-0 over the last six seasons.

The Lady Bulldogs dedicated the championship to Animam, even sporting identical no. 10 warm-up shirts with the 6-foot-2 center’s surname in salute to their tested veteran and having life-sized cardboard cut outs of Animam during the on-court celebration to make her “involved.”

But even with such ways honoring Animam and her circle doing everything to provide comfort for an unwanted situation, Animam knew being out there was still different.

“She has a love for the game that’s extremely infectious,” Camille Clarin, National University Lady Bulldogs rookie, said. “She spreads that love to player she encounters and has been making it the foundation of any team she becomes a part of.”

When she was just a scrawny little kid aged 12, Animam was introduced to hoops. Generally in the country, children her age are not even supposed to possess such skill and potential she had, and yet officials from her school noticed Animam was already ahead of the pack.

After enough convincing and looking at the situation long-term, Animam found herself playing for the Palarong Pambansa.

It was only formality for Animam to gain scholarship at a prestigious university basketball program, and eventually to be able to play for several national team tourneys.

Which is why when basketball — which Animam has fallen in love with for the past decade — was taken away from her, the Filipina-Nigerian center could only stare blankly in disappointment.

Her teammates were the first ones to know about Animam’s injury, which led to an anti-climactic ending for her spotless UAAP career.

With a phone call thousands of miles away prior to Game 2 of the UAAP women’s basketball finals, Animam’s fellow Lady Bulldogs sensed the disappointment in her voice.

“Her competitive nature brings out the best in anyone she competes against,” Clarin shared. “Jack’s relentless dedication to the game is nothing short of inspiring. She’s the first one to the gym and the last one out. Her upbringing in the world of basketball shows you that hard work beats talent because she didn’t start off as dominant as she is now.”

Prior to the injury, it was expected Animam, called “Jack Attack” by her teammates would be a surefire entry for the Gilas women’s 3×3 roster. Her combination of size, strength, and finesse is unmatched; she’s the best inside operator in Philippine women’s basketball today, and she has proven it both with titles and individual MVP honors.

So when the injury happened, there was a bit of reluctance from the coaches’ side of things.

And yet Animam was the one to assure she would make it by SEA Games 3×3 game day by all means necessary when there was a bit of reluctance coming from the coaching side of things.

“There even had been problems with her face mask,” Gilas Women head coach Patrick Aquino said in a mix of Filipino and English in an interview with ABS-CBN Sports + Action’s The Score.

“But she told me, she will do everything, that she’s got this,” Aquino added.

Sure, Animam could have just been replaced by someone else. The national team pool is deep, anyway. But the stakes entering the SEA Games competition were also high. Aquino had never won a SEA Games gold medal since taking over the national team in 2015. Putting Animam in the line-up would be the assurance he needed to jumpstart a potential golden double haul in the regional meet.

But that assurance would only come if Animam could guarantee she was in full-strength or at least be close to it come battle time.

And Animam, fueled by her competitive drive and unwavering spirit to continue playing, promised Aquino she will leave everything on the floor.

That same spirit is what pushed the Lady Bulldogs to complete the sweep of UAAP Season 82.

“Despite the evident sadness, she managed to be the fearless and inspiring captain we all know her to be. Jack showed strength not many in this world have. (That) fight and hunger she instilled in us is what led us to victory,” Clarin added.

The game has given a lot to Animam not just as an athlete but as a person, so she paid basketball back with trust that it wouldn’t betray her.

A stellar opening showcase from Gilas in Day 1 highlighted by three straight wins urged Animam to make a bold statement even before entering the semi-finals.

“I claim it. We’re gonna be number one and get the gold medal,” Animam said per Yoyo Sarmenta of ESPN5.

There were still hurdles that had to be defeated; Thailand had beaten the Philippines in the elimination round, 22-20.

But Animam did not sense any problem after that, and delivered for the nation with a stunning gold medal finish.

“I have no words to say. From what happened to her to New Zealand when she injured her eye, she just wanted to play,” Aquino added.

Indeed, her sacrifices paid off as she, along with Bernardino, Castro, and Pontejos, held their gold medals proud in front of the partisan Filipino crowd in San Juan.

On that day, Animam’s dedication triumphed over everything else. Basketball did the rest, as it could never betray her.

By Levi Verora Jr.