Foreign Waves in UAAP Shores Part 1

Hippolyte “Pipo” Noundou called out the maintenance lady at the Philsports Arena one stormy August afternoon. He just came out of the locker room after helping Far Eastern University (FEU) defeat Adamson University, 74-65. His varsity bag dangled from his right shoulder and his packed lunch was dwarfed by his large left hand. The Cameroonian, still limited with his Tagalog, pointed to the light green monobloc chair the lady was sitting on, gesturing that he wanted to borrow it. Maybe the phrases that came to his mind were the silly and useless ones, which his teammate Reil Cervantes good-naturedly teaches him all the time. Either way, he got his message across. He got the chair.

Once as uncommon as a four-point play, seeing foreign players in the UAAP is now an ordinary occurrence. Through the years, acquiring reinforcements has slowly evolved into some sort of necessity in collegiate basketball. Noundou is just one of the six foreigners of four different nationalities in the league this season. Six of the eight teams each have one. The UAAP acronym might as well translate to the Universal Athletic Association of the Philippines.

Sure, the league doesn’t discriminate on non-Filipinos who want to showcase their basketball talent. Still, there has been a fair amount of palpable discontent from other people when it comes to this rapidly raising trend. The influx of foreigners has painted a half-court line separating those who welcome them with open arms and those who still keep their doors ajar. Are foreign players really good for the UAAP? Or are they more of a bane than a boon?

Welcome mat

A player is considered a foreigner in the UAAP if he doesn’t have a single trace of Filipino blood. The league rulebook states that each team can have a maximum of two foreigners on their 16-man roster but they cannot be fielded in at the same time. Foreigners should also serve a two-year residency or should have studied at least two consecutive years in the country before being allowed to suit up.

“There are no rules saying foreigners can’t play in the UAAP. You can’t stop schools (from enlisting them) if they have foreigners enrolled,” said Ateneo de Manila University athletic director Ricky Palou. “If they’re legit students, they can play.”

In this period of globalization, many young foreigners, especially from East Asian and African nations come to the Philippines to get English education. The cheaper costs and the tropical climate make the country an easy and convenient choice. This set-up increases the chances of schools lucking out on foreign students who can also put the ball on the hoop.

This school year, De La Salle University alone has 818 foreigners enrolled, with the University of the East (UE) not too far behind with 768. The University of Santo Tomas (UST) estimated its total at 600, while the University of the Philippines (UP) and Adamson are both around the 200 mark. National University (NU) only has 23 foreign students at present but expect the number to skyrocket in the coming years with the management takeover of business tycoon Henry Sy.

Out of Africa

“Eat?”

Noundou, with beads of sweat still forming on his forehead, offered some of his Styrofoam- boxed lunch of yellow rice, vegetables, and stewed meat as he inattentively watched the game between UST and La Salle, which followed their curtain-raiser. He’s wearing a green Samuel Eto’o jersey, which shows his affection for soccer—the most popular sport in his birth country.

“Eto’o is to Cameroon what Manny Pacquiao is to the Philippines,” proudly said Noundou.

Like most boys from Douala, the largest city in Cameroon, the 22-year-old Noundou didn’t take up basketball early on. He tried it out during his teenage years and instantly fell in love with it. He knew he was good enough to play at a higher level. He felt he could take his talents somewhere else. Some place where basketball is given more attention and importance.

The 6’4” Noundou, who is in his second year in the UAAP, first went to Bangkok to try his luck after a businessman-friend bought him along. After realizing that basketball in Thailand is as boisterous as an old man’s wake, he scoured the Internet for other opportunities overseas. He found out about Philippine basketball. It was a no-brainer. Manila was the right place for his hoop dreams.

“I didn’t know any school in the Philippines. I just really wanted to play somewhere and maximize my skills,” said Noundou, who rented an apartment in Cubao after arriving in January of 2007.

As with every aspirant, he initially wanted to play in the United States. He actually received scholarships from various programs like Florida International, Rhode Island, and Gonzaga among others. Unfortunately, he had no US Visa so he ended up in the Philippines. He tried out for FEU as a walk-in after his neighbor introduced him to amiable team manager Anton Montinola. The rest is now green and gold history.

Apparently, Noundou wasn’t the only teenage African who knew about basketball in the Philippines. His fellow Cameroonian, Emmanuel “Jean” Mbe of NU and Kenyan Austin Lionel Manyara of Adamson are two more African imports in the UAAP. Both are only in their rookie years but they have already caught the attention of the league.

Similar to Noundou, Mbe discovered Philippine basketball in 2008 via the all-encompassing world of Google. He accidentally stumbled on the basketball camp of RP Youth Team head coach Eric Altamirano after typing the words “coach” and “basketball” on the popular search engine. He immediately exchanged e-mails with the fabled tactician and soon enough, he was on a plane heading to the archipelago.

“I was surprised by how popular basketball is in the Philippines. I was hesitant to go at first but my uncle persuaded me to do it,” said Mbe, who lived with the Altamirano family during his first few months in the country.

It was also an uncle who got Manyara into Manila. Adamson head coach Leo Austria said an alumnus from the university, who works in Kenya, knew the player’s family and helped the long and lanky greenhorn learn about the prospects of studying and playing in the Philippines. It was a perfect situation for him since he wanted to go to school in Asia.

UAAP Sports