Thirdy to try again
FOLLOWING an injury-riddled Japan B.League debut, Thirdy Ravena hopes to be given another shot to redeem himself from the big comedown.
The first Filipino to play in the Japanese professional basketball league, Ravena will start to work out in renewing his contract with the San-En NeoPhoenix this week.
“The talk of the players… will be on May 11,” said Ravena.
“I think that goes for a lot of the teams because usually, second week of May nagde-decide yung teams, yung management about the lineup and what’s gonna happen for next season, so let’s see,” he added.
Ravena played only 18 games for the NeoPhoenix, as his first season with the club was marred by injuries and a bout with COVID-19.
Still, the three-time UAAP men’s basketball champion Ateneo star insists he has no regrets about his highly-anticipated stint with San-En.
“There’s always that… expectation from yourself na you know you could have done better,” said Ravena. “I mean, you can say that every game, di ba, parang oh, I still could have done better even if you played really well.”
“But in my situation, I was just frustrated nga na I was always just playing handicapped, quote unquote. I’m not trying to make excuses. I know that I played how I played and I’m not blaming that on anything. But it’s really just the frustration of not being able to play in the shape that I wanted to play,” he added.
The NeoPhoenix missed the B.League playoffs, ending their regular season campaign with only 12 wins to show in 59 matches.
Ravena is looking to return to the Philippines at the end of the month to recharge after what has been a challenging year both on and off the court once he completes his commitments with San-En.
“I’m gonna stay here for a couple more weeks then probably late May, probably May 29 is my target date to go back to the Philippines,” said Ravena.
“So yeah, uwi muna tayo. Magbabakasyon ako. I mean, I really feel like I need this. I really need to be back especially after our gruesome season,” he added.
