Basketball. It's More Than Just a Game.

Filipinos love basketball! In fact, that might even be an understatement. :-) With it being their national sport, many of them have grown up playing basketball—which means they could pretty much play with their eyes closed and still make every shot! Children as young as 3-4 years old even begin dribbling a ball. They seem to have inherited a natural talent and love for this sport. :-)

Being taller than most people, we Feenys are frequently asked if we play basketball. We tell them, “Oh, no we’re not on a team.” (not to mention the fact that we are not very good!). Then they reply, “Oh, that doesn’t matter. Height is all you need. All you have to do is stand there, put your arms up, and block all the balls.” :-)

About every other week, many co-workers and contractors from Dad’s work meet together to play basketball. Even the drivers of Texas Instruments (TI) or of another group of contractors join in on the fun and also play. The men have actually started somewhat of a tournament, and they even created uniforms for all of the different groups of contractors.

This past week, some of the TI men played against a group of contractors, who were supposedly one of the best teams of all the groups. Several weeks ago when they last played together, this Araja team won by far against the TI team. This most recent time they won again, but the TI team closed the score gap significantly.:-) We enjoyed cheering for the TI players and watching them enjoy the game as well. Time to bring out the pompoms! (haha…just kidding!)

(Part of the guys on TI team that played the other night are in the picture above.)

Because most of the Filipinos are under 5 ½ feet, Dad and Mr. Wade (both TI players who are over 6 feet) had the advantage during the game of being at least a head taller than the rest of the guys on the court.:-) They both blocked several balls and made a number of goals. One time Dad simply put his arm up and ended up blocking a ball. He didn’t even have to jump or stretch his arm up! Thinking that was so funny, all the Filipinos laughed and high-fived Dad (or technically “low-fived” him!) because he blocked their own ball. :-)

Although height has its advantages, that did not stop the shorter Filipinos from making countless baskets either. They are really fast and posses amazing skills. As we watched the game we were amazed at the agility and talent of many of the Filipinos from both teams. Wow! They were filled with many impressive shots and passes! They are so good and very fun to watch.

Dad has thoroughly enjoyed his weekly basketball games not only because of the exercise, but also because of the opportunity to get to know the other Filipino contractors even more through the games. The Filipinos have enjoyed the basketball tournaments too. They love it when Dad and the other TI men play their national sport with them. It means so much to them—I think more than we realize. :-)