When drumbeats fade

LOS ANGELES — To the competitive world of basketball, many are called, few are chosen. When the drumbeats fade, amateurs in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) know it’s time to give up on the dream and leave the surreal life for a more realistic one.

"That kind of life was very lax. All I did was play and party," says Brandon Sison, former Ateneo Blue Eagle who went on to play ball for five years in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL). He thought he was PBA-bound, but when he wasn’t signed after being drafted by Sta. Lucia in the PBA in 2002, he took it as a wake - up call. This International Studies graduate bade farewell to basketball and packed his bags to explore possibilities in the Unites States.

Sison now lives in Anaheim, Orange County, and works as a real estate appraiser. He lives with Bryan Sison, his twin brother and former teammate. He says life is tougher here where he can’t just depend on his family for support; but the rewards are different. He reveals that his lifestyle has vastly changed since coming to America two years ago.

"Whatever I do will affect me directly. If I don’t work, I don’t eat," he says. To explain how hard life is for him here, compared to how it was in Manila, he says there are 2-3 days in a week where he does nothing but work. Being an appraiser, he also visits foreclosed structures and there are days when he would have to drive for six hours from Los Angeles to San Francisco and back in just one day.

Despite the long hours at work and occasional attacks of homesickness, however, this 27-year old says his life here is more fulfilling. He admits that he misses the "party-life" in Manila but according to him, that life is "shallow, if not empty."

"All we did was talk about games and girls," Sison reveals. He still keeps in touch with some of his former teammates like Wesley Gonzales who now plays for FedEx Express in the PBA, Andrew Cruz and Epok Quimpo, through e-mail, internet chat, and texting. Occasionally, he gets news about the goings on in the UAAP, though he doesn’t go out of his way to get the latest scoop, schedule of games, statistics and scores.

A few months after he got here, he joined a community league and played basketball to keep fit. Right now, though, he says because work can be too tiring, rest has become a priority during his spare time.

The "playtime" chapter in his life book is closed, although he says he sometimes looks back and recalls the days of excitement in the dugout as he, together with his teammates, got ready to go out on the floor for showtime. Like any Blue Eagle, the most memorable game for Sison involves arch rival Archers. He was a sophomore and made six out of seven treys to help his team win over the De La Salle squad which was then composed of Mark Telan, Chris Tan, Gabby Severino, Gabby Cui, among others.

He didn’t make it to the ultimate dream destination of every baller in the Philippines, but Sison says his days in the UAAP were enough for him to learn values he now uses to survive in life. Most important of which are discipline and focus.

Bryan Sison, Brandon’s twin, believes that if he didn’t play in college, he would have been able to learn more. Unlike Brandon who tried to pursue a basketball career, Bryan knew early on that hoopdom was not for him. His career with the Blue Eagles was marred by bad experiences and politics, and these didn’t encourage him to make a career out of the sport.

While Brandon was still playing in Manila, Bryan stopped and moved to Masbate to work in a construction firm. But this particular goodbye to basketball did not last very long. Soon, he was asked to play for the Batangas Blade in the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA); and he agreed. But after one season, he knew for sure that basketball was not his game.

In 2000, he moved to the States with his girlfriend, Donna. Out here, Bryan started with odd jobs while waiting for a good break. Opportunity came when he met a friend who referred him to the company for which he works now, New Horizons Computer Learning Center. He recalls going for a walk-in interview on a Friday and being hired on a Tuesday. He learned persistence and aggressiveness in the UAAP, and that was one incident when those became handy. He claims basketball taught him to "just go for it."

"Even if your opponents are bigger than you, you should even be more challenged to beat them. Just have that go-for-it attitude," explains Bryan who now works in the company’s corporate office and handles training of new employees.

He admits he misses the intensity and competitiveness in the UAAP games. He says he also misses his teammates whom he considered family. But right now, he’s happy building his own. Bryan is happily married to Donna and the young couple is busy raising their kids — Christian Michael (6) and Natasha Isabela (2).

Another former Blue Eagle who flew to the States in search of better opportunities is Ryan Pamintuan, one half of the Bruise Brothers, the other was Brandon Sison. He first attracted attention to his game by delivering stellar performances in the Juniors Division of the UAAP. He personally recalls a finals game with UST where he scored 4 points, 11 rebounds and 12 blocks to carry his team to victory in a season that earned him the Most Valuable Player honors.

He entered the Seniors Divison with so much promise. But his ascent to amateur hoopdom was halted by injuries. When he got a kidney infection two years ago, he knew it was game over. After all, his physician already advised him against playing basketball in that level again.

Fortunately for him, it was also right about that time when he got his green card. He took it as a cue to leave and decided to give California a shot. Like Brandon, Pamintuan works a real estate appraiser and also dabbles in real estate sales once in a while. He has to work extra hard now that he’s about to start his own family.

Yes, the former UAAP heartthrob is taking the plunge. At 27, Pamintuan is sure that his girlfriend for the past year, Ayen Santos, is the one. She works for Banquet and Conference Center in West LA. The two met at a FLOW party, a regular get-together of Filipinos who migrated here to the States. Young Filipino migrants who come from as far as San Francisco, Las Vegas, and even from the East Coast patronize this event held regularly at the Lingerie Club on the famous Sunset Strip in Hollywood.

Pamintuan and Santos, also 27, will exchange "I do’s" on Friday, August 6, in front of family and friends at the St. Monica Church in Santa Monica, California. After their honeymoon in Florida, the two will go back to Cerritos and start their house-hunting.

When the drumbeats fade, players in the UAAP know it’s time to exit the basketball court and leave their "jock" alter egos behind. Opportunities in the real world await and they have to concentrate on scoring in the bigger game — the game of life.