Fajardo Fajardo in action

Fil-Am sensation Fajardo: She’s got game

October 17, 2021 Ed Andaya 993 views
Pilipinas
Philippine women’s team.

THE future is bright for women’s basketball and Filipino-American sensation Ella Patrice Fajardo hopes to be part of it.

Nine years after being introduced to the game by her father and seven years after watching the Perlas- Pilipinas women’s basketball for the first time upon the invitation of national team coach Pat Aquino, Fajardo is living her dream of a lifetime.

“It’s really a big privilege for me to be a part of the national team. An amazing opportunity,” said Fajardo during the 124th “Usapang Sports on Air” by the Tabloids Organization in Philippine Sports (TOPS) via Zoom last Oct. 14.

Fajardo, now 18, debuted for the Philippine women’s team in the 2021 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup held last Set. 27-Oct. 3 October in Amman, Jordan where the Gilas Pilipinas-supported Filipinas finished seventh with a 1-3 win-loss record.

“It was a wonderful experience for me, considering that I haven’t even played a game of college basketball yet,” added Fajardo during the weekly public service program sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporatiion (PAGCOR) and Games and Amusements Board (GAB).

“It was just surreal and crazy to be able to play against that type of competition against teams that literally came from the Olympics,” added the 5-5 point guard, who was also recruited to play for NCAA Division I team Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights last year.

As the youngest member of the Aquino-mentored national team, Fajardo was star-struck to represent the country alongside Afril Bernardino and Janine Pontejos. She was just as thrilled to play against top players from China, Australia and Chinese-Taipei.

“I think the eldest in the team is 29 years old. I also remember some of our opponents already have children and they even brought them in the Media Day,” said Fajardo, who first played for the Philippine women’s 3×3 team which won the bronze medal in the 2019 FIBA 3×3 U18 Asia Cup in Malaysia, and reached the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup in Mongolia.

“It was fun playing against and being guarded by these foreign players,” explained Fajardo, who was only in sixth grade when Aquino first tried to recruit her for the National University in the UAAP.

Fajardo, who also attended the Milo BEST Center thru coach Julie Amos during her yearly visits to Manila in summertime, assured everybody that she is committed to play for the Philippines even as she pursues her Health Science studies at Fairleigh as a scholar.

“I really do hope to play again for the Philippine team in future international tournaments,” admitted Fajardo, who is willing to join her kababayans in bubble training when there is an opportunity.

“I know this is definitely a period where Coach Pat had a lot of veterans as well as me and three other rookies who are 19 years old and a 20 years old. We’re definitely in the transition period when he’s trying to get younger players or give them more exposure in international tournaments. So I believe that you can expect more of my international presence.”

Asked about her humble beginnings, Fajardo credited her father for giving her the headstart.

“My dad introduced me to basketball. But he never forced me to play, especially because in the Philippines, basketball is more of like a men’s sport or a boyish sport,” recalled Fajardo, whose parents both came from the Philippines.

“But my dad, who grew up playing basketball before migrating to the US, kinda just drew me in the fire. He told me that he saw some type of potential in me. I wasn’t very good in my first year playing basketball but I have the heart, the grit, I guess, taking myself to the next level.”

” I think I started basketball around third grade or about nine years old. Since then I’ve been trying to work on my craft with my dad as my main coach.”

“In terms of me playing for Gilas Pilipinas, I thank Coach Julie Amos because I used to participate in the Milo BEST Center under her. I would go back to the Philippines every single year, around June to September or summertime. I was there for two to three months just to participate in the Milo Best Center and also to visit my family. Coach Julie noticed me at a young age and remained in contact with me thru Facebook Messenger. And then when I was 16 years old, there was an Under-18 3X3 World Cup and Asia Cup in Mongolia and Malaysia, and they invited me to play even though the maximum age is 18. And just this year, it was my first time playing in Gilas 5-on-5.”

Fajardo knows the long road to basketball stardom is steep with more challenges.

She is still thousands of miles away from her idols, Samantha Whitcomb of the New York Liberty in the WNBA or Filipina great-turned-Serbian import Jack Animam.

But with her determination and will to succeed, basketball fans surely agree that the sky’s the limit for Fajardo. With reports from Gab Ferreras

AUTHOR PROFILE