Davao: A Basketballer’s Paradise

Davao: A Basketballer’s Paradise
By Giles Creelman

For many, basketball is the ultimate pastime. The young child in the street only needs a bouncing ball and some semblance of a basket to shoot at, the teenagers run themselves ragged as day turns to night and the young professional sees it as a way to keep up with old friends once a week while staying in shape.

But for the ballers of Davao it is so much more. I travelled to Davao City last week with Australia’s Sports Ambassadors – a group dedicated to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to Filipino crowds that gather to see local basketball teams play against Australian 6-foot-something’s who throw down the occasional slam dunk but lack the footspeed to keep up with the frenetic pace of the Filipino game. What I experienced in Davao was so intense and of such a high standard that opposing teams traveling to this city should be pre-warned to ‘bring their A-game’ to the cradle of Filipino basketball. The passing is as good as anywhere in South East Asia and no one shoots the high-arcing 3-pointer like the ballers of Davao.

Our team travelled through Manila and down to Bukidnon, Mindanao, playing games in Bukidnon area to crowds of up to 2,000 as well as helping to build a children’s orphanage and visiting local prisons to minister to inmates. With an unbeaten 16-game winning streak, we drove into Davao City for our last two days of the tour having enjoyed the incredible journey so far. Our first stop was Brokenshire College, with the Head of the College offering to be our “waterboy” for the evening! He obviously knew how much his team would make us sweat. We were lucky to come away with a win that evening in front of a vocal crowd.

The next morning had us asking the question – who will turn out to see an 8:30am game between the Barangay 32-D Policeman’s Selection and the Sports Ambassadors team? Half of Davao it seemed, as pedi-cabs and jeepneys pulled up at the court well before tip-off to join the children from the local estate who had turned out to see our team narrowly win an excellent match of street basketball. School children stopped to watch, students from a Beauty Therapy Academy in downtown Davao bussed down to watch the match and support Davao basketball.
After an interview with Davao Sportswriters Association (DSA) at the Tower Inn Hotel, it was straight to MATTS College for our second game of the day. The peaceful surroundings of the College masked a varsity team full of an intensity we had not seen anywhere else on the courts of this country. Their team did not possess a player over 6-foot and in any other town the game would have been over by quarter-time.
But not in Davao.

Spurred on by the most vocal crowd I have ever heard, the MATTS team never showed signs of giving up – even when staring down the barrel of a 12-point deficit at three quarter time. The fourth quarter was pure Filipino heart – fearless driving, amazing passing and impeccable shooting. The frenzied crowd got behind every shot and defensive effort the MATTS team made and, with 6.6 seconds left to play in the game, this college team had tied the game at 80-80 with an improbable 3-pointer from a few feet inside the half-way line. Even our last ditch effort to win the game with an inside drive was swamped by relentless defenders. We knew we had our met our match and our winning streak was over. These Davao ballers had never seen losing as an option in this contest and they had created a result for themselves through sheer talent and willpower.

We will ever forget that game, or the quality of the players we saw in Davao. For many, basketball is a pastime. For the players in Davao, it is something much more sacred than that. And that is why we now see Davao as a basketballer’s paradise.