My boss’s daughter

One of the taboos of any business is going after the boss’s daughter. That may apply even more strictly to basketball players, whose careers are often painfully short. It’s often seen as a means of securing a longer career, not a sign of true attraction. And once things go wrong, your career is invariably over.

But there are exceptions. The love affair between Wynne and April Arboleda is a huge lesson in courage, conviction, honesty, and being true to yourself. Wynne is the tough, fast-breaking point guard of the FedEx Express in the PBA, who first gained a reputation for making big plays in the MBA’s Laguna Lakers. And April is the smart, pretty and kind daughter of Bert Lina, who just happens to own the Express.

"In the beginning, I really felt like we were just friends," April recounts. "I never thought that it would be us. When he first started courting me, I wondered if he knew what he was getting into, because we owned the team. But I guess he knew what he was doing, or else he wouldn’t court me. And he seemed sincere. Besides, he’d really have reason to be afraid if he didn’t have good intentions. Somebody’s really going to go after him."

"I first met April because they were the owners of our team, the Laguna Lakers," Arboleda recalls in his simple vernacular. "I didn’t court her right away, precisely because she was the daughter of the owner, and I had a girlfriend at the time. Even after I broke off with my girlfriend, I was relaxed about having another relationship. After about a year, there were times when we’d have no practice, and I’d invite her out for dinner, and she’d say yes. Slowly, our relationship developed."

"Of course, there were comments that the reason he made me his girlfriend was because I was his boss’s daughter, that he wanted to suck up," April continues. "Those were the usual things we’d hear. At first, it was difficult. You want to tell people it’s not true. The team needs him; they wouldn’t get him if he wasn’t talented. And if you think about it, that’s all you’d be thinking about, instead of letting your relationship grow."

"At first, I was afraid, because she was the daughter of the owner," Wynne continues. "So I would just think that I liked her, and nothing else. I was concerned about what they could do to me. So I was just honest with her. I felt very at ease around her."

Even while Arboleda was with Laguna, he was already hearing even teammates call him "Boss Wynne." The situation became so awkward that it became hard for him to play there, that it was supposedly the reason he wanted to be traded. But since the Lakers didn’t consider Wynne an opponent, he ended up in the PBA instead, via the Pop Cola Panthers. Coach Chot Reyes had always been impressed with Arboleda, who was like a cannonball in the open court. But at the time, Pop didn’t have the material for a running team, and Arboleda often found himself alone on the fastbreak.

"At first, it was very hard, I was really discouraged," Wynne relates. "But I couldn’t avoid it; it was there. So I decided to prove that there was a reason for me being on the team."

"Well, my Mom and Dad didn’t really react," she adds. "They just said, be sure he won’t hurt you, that’s all. I think they trusted us enough to go along with our decisions. They never went against it or forbade me. They just let us."

When Lina decided to move up to the PBA, he showed a penchant for bringing together former MBA players. Lina, who has four daughters, was once the highest official of the MBA and thought of his players as sons, so he brought together as many of his sons as he could. And Wynne Arboleda, now his son-in-law and father of granddaughter Andrea (or Andy for short), is an integral part of the team. And April is one reason why Wynne has blossomed, both as a person and a player.

"I can’t say anything bad about her, she is such a nice person," Wynne reveals. "And she’s very understanding about our situation. You know what they say, once you’re a basketball player, all these girls are supposed to approach you. But I realized that she had what I was looking for in a woman.

"In this kind of a situation, it’s very hard to prove to people why you’re in that team," Arboleda explains from experience. "Especially now, I’m part of the FedEx Express. It’s hard to explain to people why I’m here. But maybe they took me because I can help the team, not because my wife is the owner’s daughter. I’m not here just for display."

Perhaps it is an unspoken respect for hard work and courage that has opened this door for Arboleda. After all, "Mang Bert" himself started working at the tender age of three, selling fruit on the streets of Laguna. Now he has built an empire that includes the franchise for the world’s largest delivery system, and airline and environmentally friendly companies. Perhaps he sees a bit of himself in Wynne, a simple, hard-working young man who has taken on the challenge of giving the best of himself to the woman he loves, no matter what other people may say.

"Wynne is very courageous," April adds with a pause. "And he’s very close to his parents. That’s what I really appreciate in him, his concern for his parents. My Mom said that if you see that in a man, you know he will take care of you. It’s one of the qualities that you want to find, isn’t it?" she said.

To be sure, the romance continues, even without basketball as its main focus.

"We make sure that our bonding doesn’t just revolve around basketball," Wynne says. "I even asked her before we got married, what if I was no longer in basketball, would she still like me? She said, ‘Of course.’ So I said, okay."

"We both enjoy watching games, even on TV, so it’s one way of our being together," April reveals. "But that’s not entirely how we bond. We like to eat out, we like to watch DVDs, we go out with friends."

And now that Wynne and April have proven the strength of their commitment for each other, the narrow-minded and envious will fade into the shadows, and their relationship will prove that, no matter what hand life deals you, you can have the dreams you set your mind and heart on.

"My message for him is to keep on playing hard, and play the way you know how. Always be strong. Ignore the negative things people say. Always believe in yourself, because that’s all you have to go back to, in the end."