Banal suits up for US varsity team

MANILA, Philippines - Former Phl Youth player Raphael Banal is set to make history, becoming the first Filipino to play for a US varsity team straight from high school in the Philippines.

Banal, among the key stalwarts of the 2008-2009 Ateneo Blue Eaglets champion squads, is joining the Memphis, Tennessee-based Victory University Comets in their campaign in the National Christian Colleges Athletic Association.

He left for the US Monday with his classes at the VU starting Aug. 29 and the US varsity season beginning in November. 

Banal was recruited by VU coach Scott Robinson upon the recommendation of coach Ed Schilling under whom the 6-foot-2 Filipino youth trained in a camp in Indianapolis, Indiana for six months.

Robinson and Schilling have gone a long way, both having worked together as assistant coaches to coach John Calipari at University of Memphis.

Banal opted to sit out the 2010 varsity season in the Philippines to hone his skills in the US.

In a six-month training under Schilling, Banal was converted from a wingman to point guard.

Banal and Kiefer Ravena were hotshots of the Ateneo Eaglets, tapped together to banner the Phl Youth team that placed fifth in the Fiba Asia junior championship in Yemen in 2009.

In the same year, Banal and Ravena were two of five Filipinos chosen to represent the Philippines in the Junior NBA camp in San Francisco, California.

Rafael’s older brother Gabriel and father Joel had also played for the Philippine youth team. Joel, who is now coach Tim Cone’s chief deputy at Alaska, later played for several national men’s teams before turning pro and playing for Great Taste.

Ateneo, La Salle, Mapua and National U were among teams that tried to recruit Banal into their fold. But he’s happy to accept scholarship at VU.

Japeth Aguilar played for US NCAA Division I school Western Kentucky. But he had played two seasons with the Ateneo Eagles before being enlisted in the US.

For several Fil-Ams, they played in the US first before being recruited to play in the country.

Ravena, who’s now carving a niche with the Ateneo Eagles in the UAAP, had also thought of trying his luck in the US. He, however, opted to stay at Ateneo.