MANILA, Philippines — Jack Animam isn’t sweating the tough schedule for the Gilas Pilipinas women’s national team as she looks to make up for lost time after recently returning to the squad.
Animam, who was sidelined for more than a year due to injury, represented Gilas for the first time in nearly four years, helping the Nationals to a silver-medal finish in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.
Though falling short of the three-peat bid in her first tournament back in the fold, the former NU Lady Bulldog was beyond ecstatic to be able to represent the country again.
“Syempre, sobrang happy ako,” she said of her return.
“Sobrang namiss ko talaga, you know, wearing Philippine threads, playing with my teammates, being coached by Coach Pat [Aquino]. I can’t explain the feeling,” she added.
Animam led the Gilas women to two silvers — one each in 5-on-5 and 3x3.
On the 3x3 side, it was a big boost as they improved on missing out on the podium in the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi to finishing behind gold medalists Vietnam.
Now that she’s gotten used to the grind again, the five-time UAAP champion can’t wait to make herself busy anew.
“Yun nga, wala kaming pahinga, tuloy-tuloy, after SEA Games, FIBA Asia, Jones Cup and then Asian Games. So I’m just so happy to be wearing the Philippine jersey again,” she said.
Animam and the rest of the Gilas girls are already back in training since Monday in the hopes of staying in Division A of the upcoming FIBA Women’s Asia Cup set in Sydney next month.
Gilas women coach Pat Aquino, meanwhile, said that though the minimum goal is to stay in Division A, the Nationals are looking to come out with a better performance against some of the tougher teams in the tournament.
The Philippines is in a tough group with five-time reigning champion Japan, host Australia, and Chinese Taipei.
“It’s always gonna be like that. But you know, we’ve been there and we have to perform. We have to really compete this time. I know, it’s a hard task to do but you have to really prepare to represent the country well, going into the FIBA Asia Cup, I think hindi lang puro last game,” said Aquino.
“Yung mindset natin is, just to stay there in Division A. No, this time, I think we need to really compete and show the world that you know, not just here, but show Asia na we can compete against the best.”