Passing Down Fil-Am Pride on the Hardwood
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Russell Casapao, founder and director of the Filipino Youth Basketball Association, directs a clinic for young Filipino hoopsters at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia (Photo by Ariel Le).
Aurea Gingras, sophomore point guard for Paul VI High School’s women’s basketball team, stood in the corner as the seconds wound down in the 2018 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship semifinal. As a facilitator, Gingras hadn’t shot the ball at all in the game. In fact, coaches encouraged her not to shoot.
Paul VI High, trailing McNamara 60-61, placed its final hopes of completing a 13-point comeback in the hands of star guard Ashley Owusu. Owusu drove, collapsed the defense, and threw the ball out to Gingras. This time, Gingras ignored her coaches’ directives not to shoot.
“Instinct, or the basketball gods, kicked in, and took the ball out of my hands,” Gingras recalls. “I shot it from the corner, and it goes in.”
Her teammates stormed the court and the crowd erupted, triggering what Gingras characterizes as an “out-of-body experience.” After the emotions wore off, Gingras was able to process what she had just achieved: a game-winning three to send Paul VI to the conference championship game.
The subsequent media coverage contextualized the magnitude of Gingras’ shot for Paul VI, a perennial powerhouse of girl’s high school basketball in the DMV—District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia—region. What stayed under the radar in the game’s aftermath, though, was a hidden trend Gingras’ shot epitomized: the increasing importance of Filipino Americans on the DMV high school basketball scene.
When Gingras was eight years old, she connected with a wider network of Filipino hoopsters in the DMV when she joined the Filipino Youth Basketball Association, a nonprofit that trains and organizes leagues for Filipino youth in the DMV. After starting with FYBA and getting serious about training, she became a sought-after middle-school recruit, a varsity starter in high school, and eventually a rotation player on George Washington University’s team.
Aurea Gingras represents Washington, D.C. in a 2016 tournament for Filipino teams across North America. (Photo courtesy of Aurea Gingras)
FYBA has helped several other young Filipinos earn college basketball scholarships in recent years, and dozens more make their high school varsity teams. Russell Casapao, the director of FYBA, established the nonprofit in 2007, driven by the mission of platforming young Filipino basketball player, a group that often gets overlooked on the DMV basketball scene.
Cultural Strengthener
Aside from helping young Filipinos play competitively, FYBA has had another effect on Filipino youth in the DMV: fostering their Filipino identity. In the DMV, basketball has emerged as a way for second- and third-generation Filipino Americans, who otherwise might have limited exposure to Filipino culture, to live in community with other Filipinos and absorb cultural knowledge from elders.
The role of basketball in facilitating cultural preservation among Filipinos was far from inevitable, though. Their famed love of basketball stems from the United States’ attempts to assimilate Filipinos into American culture, a goal Filipinos have since repurposed.
Last December marked the 125th anniversary of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American War and transferred colonial control of the Philippines from Spain to the United States. For some, this equates to the 125th anniversary of Philippine-American history. For others, this year signifies the 125th anniversary of Philippine independence.
“On June 12, 1898, the Philippines declared independence, and basically the Treaty of Paris ignored that in December of 1898,” said Erwin Tiongson, economics professor at Georgetown University and author of Philippine-American Heritage in Washington, D.C.
The United States’ rejection of the Philippines’ declaration of independence led to the Philippine-American War, which began in 1899. “Up to 200,000 civilians were killed,” Tiongson said. “It’s a war that very few people remember now, but it was brutal and violent.” The United States declared itself the victor of the war in 1902.
Sports As Colonial Tool
With the Philippines safely under military occupation, the United States viewed itself as having a duty to “civilize” the “primitive” Filipino people and transform the Philippines into a modern state by importing American culture and styles of governance. In the early years of colonization, one tool of Americanization emerged as particularly effective in the Philippines: sports.
In 2005, Lou Antolihao, an aspiring sociologist from Davao, Philippines, moved to Singapore to pursue his doctorate. His previous research revolved around tourism, but a new research topic materialized when he received advice about how to find Filipinos in Singapore.
“Oh, you want to find Filipinos? You go to church or go to a basketball court,” Antolihao recalls hearing. The advice inspired Antolihao to conduct his doctoral research on the history of basketball in the Philippines.
The research led to a groundbreaking book published in 2015, Playing with the Big Boys,”in which Antolihao chronicles the United States’ use of basketball as an imperialist tool in the Philippines and Filipinos’ incorporation of the game into their own culture and institutions.
Antolihao scoured archives in the Philippines and the United States to complete his research. His findings identified three colonial forces most responsible for bringing sports to the Philippines: the U.S. military, the Young Men’s Christian Association, and the public education system.
Basketball Overtook Baseball
The U.S. military established a foothold in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. U.S. troops carried on the military tradition of playing sports on their bases and in surrounding towns. Initially, it was baseball, not basketball, that U.S. troops introduced.
“They played baseball in the plazas of towns and cities they occupied, and because of that, Filipinos caught on to the game, initially by watching,” Antolihao said.
Basketball started supplanting baseball as the most popular American sport in the Philippines when the YMCA established a presence in the country in the early 1900s. The YMCA first came to the Philippines to support American servicemen who were perceived as vulnerable to vices, such as prostitution and alcohol, Antolihao said. Among the services the YMCA offered was a basketball program, initiated by Elwood Brown, YMCA Physical Education Director and a former basketball coach at the University of Illinois.
Since YMCAs operated college dorms, Filipino college students gained exposure to basketball, and interest in basketball surged in Filipino colleges. In his research, Antolihao found that baseball’s presence on military bases led Filipinos to associate the sport with colonization and occupation, whereas basketball’s dominance on college campuses associated basketball with education and progress.
“Young students saw the YMCA and basketball as a reflection of modernity, whereas baseball is about occupation and force,” Antolihao said. Since the country aspired to a future beyond domination, basketball, more so than baseball, trickled down to the rest of the Filipino population.
Basketball became further entrenched in Filipino culture when the public education system, another arm of the United States’ colonial enterprise in the Philippines, institutionalized the teaching of basketball in physical education classes. The implementation of physical education programs was rooted in colonial ideology and language about Filipinos’ inferior physicality, according to Antolihao. “There was some racial stereotyping and prejudice that Filipinos were weak Orientals,” Antolihao said. “So to become modern, you need to become strong.”
Lure of the Hoop
At St. Augustine Seminary in Mindoro, Philippines, where Russell Casapao graduated high school in 1987, students could choose from a range of sports to play in their physical education class. Growing up, Casapao’s sport was baseball. He first received exposure to basketball through his friends in high school.
“When my friends watched basketball, I actually hated it. ‘What’s going on? I want to watch a movie,’” Casapao remembers telling his friends. “Why would you just watch these people run back and forth?”
All his friends played basketball though, so Casapao relented and started playing with them in physical education class and on their own. Casapao’s memories playing at the seminary reflect a common experience for Filipino youth during the islands’ wet seasons: shooting hoops in the rain with a muddy ball, barefoot, or in tsinelas (slippers). “Shoes were almost a luxury to have to play basketball in the Philippines,” Casapao said.
Casapao teaches young FYBA members how to shoot (Photo by Ariel Le)
After picking up some skills from his friends and making the school’s varsity team, Casapao began to fall in love with basketball. At De La Salle University, where he attended college, he befriended a group of fellow basketball enthusiasts, one of whom played on the college team. Casapao and his pals went to all the team’s games to support their friend; he started to get hooked.
Matchups with Ateneo, De La Salle’s rival, reached the same level of intensity as Duke-North Carolina rivalry showdowns in the United States, according to Casapao. “Probably give or take seven to ten thousand people in one stadium,” Casapao said. “It’s hot. It’s noisy. But you don’t actually worry about it, because you’re so engaged in the game.”
Casapao moved to the United States in 1997 when he obtained a technology job in Houston, Texas. He bounced between different states before settling down with his wife, Jingle, in Virginia in 2000. Casapao and Jingle had their fifth son in 2007.
When his sons began playing competitive basketball, Casapao learned about the training opportunities available for children in the United States, opportunities that far exceeded anything available to him in the Philippines. He also noticed that Filipino kids were often overlooked in DMV basketball programs due to perceptions that they are undersized and less athletic. Casapao’s observations, along with his passion for Filipino basketball, convinced him of the need for basketball training catered toward Filipino youth in the DMV, a gap he thought he was equipped to fill.
When Casapao moved to Virginia, he joined the Filipino-American Basketball Association of Metropolitan DC, a local basketball organization for Filipinos. FABA, established in 2001, is a nonprofit that organizes league play for Filipinos of multiple age ranges. Casapao became involved as a coach, but differences with FABA’s leadership about how to run youth activities led him to establish his own nonprofit, FYBA in 2007. “That’s why I named it Filipino Youth Basketball Association, because we’re focusing on the youth,” Casapao said.
Since 2007, Casapao and his team of volunteers have turned FYBA into a household name for Filipino youth involved in the DMV basketball community. On Sundays, Filipino kids aged 8 to 16 pack into Lake Braddock Secondary School’s gymnasium for two hours to play in FYBA’s “house league.”
The league partitions kids into different age divisions and groups them into teams, which play each other on two of the gymnasium’s three basketball courts. The other court is reserved for players younger than eight, who participate in clinics run by Casapao and other coaches.
Two FYBA teams, composed of players aged 11 to 13, face off on the main court of Lake Braddock Secondary School’s gymnasium (Photo by Ariel Le)
All of FYBA’s coaches are volunteers. On the perimeter of Lake Braddock’s basketball courts, parents, family members, and coaches chat and catch up with one another, in what has become a ritualized weekly activity for many. “I look at it kind of like church,” said Mitch Luz, a coach in FYBA’s 12-and-under age division.
Motivated by the goal of breaking down barriers that restrict Filipinos from participating in competitive basketball, Casapao formed the FYBA Select Team, a program that places its players in tournaments with competitive clubs. Members of the FYBA Select Team receive additional training focused on fundamentals every Wednesday at Frost Middle School in Fairfax.
“If you go to our program, short-term, you’ll be able to play high school basketball,” Casapao said. “Long-term, if you really are serious about playing basketball, you can even go to college.”
Getting Attention
Jaden Ignacio, in his fourth season as a starter and captain for Mary Baldwin University’s men’s basketball team, first gained the attention of college scouts when he participated in a showcase camp for 60 young Filipino players in Manila, Philippines.
All but five of the players were from the Philippines. Casapao selected Ignacio, a 16-year-old who played with FYBA Select, as the United States’ one representative.
Jaden Ignacio represents FYBA at a Filipino tournament (Photo courtesy of Jaden Ignacio).
Not only was it Ignacio’s first opportunity to play basketball in another country, but it was also his first chance to visit the Philippines, the country his grandparents called home. What struck Ignacio was the passion surrounding basketball in the Philippines.
“Basketball is everything there,” Ignacio said. “Everywhere you might go in the Philippines, there’ll be a court nailed up somewhere and people playing in whatever they can play in—some people playing barefoot, some people playing when it’s raining.”
At the camp, Ignacio needed to adjust to Filipinos’ more physical style of play. “We’re shorter. We’re smaller. We really gotta make up for that with our aggression and our physicality,” Ignacio said. “The refs there will let you play. They’ll let you give hard fouls without calling it.”
Arnie Ignacio, Jaden’s dad, learned two Tagalog terms growing up in the DMV associated with Filipinos’ physical style of play: hawi, to push aside, and gulang, old man play. “Pushing, pulling, holding is all part of the game,” Arnie said.
The camp fueled Jaden’s trajectory to play college basketball, but it also strengthened something else that FYBA helped him cultivate: his connection with Filipino heritage.
“Other than church,” Jaden said, “I don’t have that good of a connection with my Filipino culture.” Basketball, through FYBA, has served as Ignacio’s avenue to nurture his Filipino identity, as has been the case for so many other second- and third-generation Filipino youth in the DMV.
On to College Hoops
Aurea Gingras has played three years of college basketball. She’s played in two high school state championship games. The biggest crowd she’s played in front of wasn’t at either of those two venues. Instead, it was at a 2012 Filipino Labor Day tournament in Canada.
As Gingras took center stage in a gym of six basketball courts to compete in the tournament’s championship game, the scent of adobo and pancit wafted from the back of the facility where parents were cooking. Filipino flags blanketed the crowd. Fans in the stands shook empty water bottles filled with coins and noisemakers until Todd Lancaster, Gingras’ coach, couldn’t hear himself talk.
The only audible words were those in Tagalog shouted by spectators, constantly attempting to one-up opposing fan bases in volume and energy. “I haven’t seen an event that has more Filipinos than NABA,” said Casapao.
The North American Basketball Association hosts tournaments for Filipino teams, each representing a different location, from Canada and across the United States every Labor Day weekend. FYBA sends teams to represent the DMV area at NABA tournaments. With Filipinos from two countries packed into one gym, coaches and players experience unparalleled levels of energy.
“The crowds are ridiculous compared to AAU tournaments,” said Lancaster. “I mean, it’s just phenomenal.”
In one play of the championship game, Gingras led a fast break, crossed the ball over, and her defender fell. She crossed the ball over again, and another defender fell. Gingras doesn’t think her moves were that remarkable, but the crowd’s reaction was even louder than when she hit the game-winning three against McNamara in the conference semifinal.
“I’ve made some big plays in my career,” Gingras said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a moment that was louder than those people falling.”
Travis Roberts, an FYBA alum who plays for Jacksonville State University, said the crowds were his favorite part about playing at NABA tournaments. Roberts knew he had a future in basketball when he started dunking in middle school, a skill that amazed Filipino crowds at NABA tournaments. “Whenever I would dunk, they would go crazy,” Roberts said.
Gingras identifies as just one-quarter Filipino. She has never been to the Philippines and her family did not talk much about Filipino culture when she grew up; so Gingras felt disconnected from her Filipino heritage, she said. That changed when she got involved with FYBA.
At NABA tournaments, where Filipino dance, language, and food pervade the environment, Gingras received her “slice of culture,” she said. “Most of the aunties would come to me speaking Tagalog until I told them I couldn’t,” Gingras said. “For once in my life, I loved the assumption that I spoke Tagalog.”
Journey of Discovery
Playing basketball with other Filipinos led Gingras on a journey of discovery about Filipino culture. She sought out Filipino restaurants and befriended other Filipinos in the DMV. Her brother, who also played with FYBA, spent time cooking in a Filipino kitchen.
“It wasn’t an even thing until I was a part of FYBA that I knew what being Filipino was,” Gingras said.
Jerry Bautista, who coaches in FYBA’s ten-and-under age division, agreed with Gingras’ perspective on the capacity of FYBA to strengthen Filipino identity. He said FYBA plays a similar role to Filipino American community centers, which kept him connected with his family’s culture while he was growing up in Florida. While driving his players to practice, Bautista’s ears perked up when he heard his son’s friends profess their love for sinigang, a Filipino vegetable soup. “My son hates vegetables, so I tried to rub it in his face,” Bautista said.
Jerry Bautista runs a clinic for FYBA’s youngest members at Lake Braddock Secondary School (Photo by Ariel Le)
Roberts, who identifies as half-Filipino, also attributes the strengthening of his Filipino identity to his time with FYBA. Through the music, fellowship, and food that animated NABA tournaments, Roberts learned why Filipinos often have a reputation as fun-loving people.
“I wasn’t too connected to my culture until I realized that FYBA and the whole culture is so fun,” Roberts said. “It helped me realize that I’m a proud Filipino.”
FYBA’s impact extends beyond those who identify as part Filipino. Jordan Ignacio—younger brother of Jaden and a sophomore at Georgetown University—whose parents are both Filipino, has found a sense of home in FYBA. Team potlucks—where pancit, lumpia, and Jollibee’s chicken are staples—immerse Jordan and his teammates in familiar scents and sounds.
Compared with teammates in other leagues, Jordan has found the process of building bonds with FYBA teammates more natural. “We can easily relate to each other,” Jordan said. “Both of our grandmothers, we call the same thing. We have traditions in the household that we both do.”
Jordan and Jaden inherited their love of basketball from their dad, illustrating how basketball has become a part of Filipino culture that gets passed down to children. Jordan’s identity got tied to basketball at birth, when his father, Arnie, named him after NBA legend Michael Jordan. “My wife doesn’t want to believe that,” Arnie joked.
Still Male-Focused
Although basketball has emerged as a source of cultural preservation among Filipino Americans, the sport isn’t entirely representative of how Filipinos preserve and experience culture. The common masculinization of cultures surrounding sports, including basketball, means Filipino men tend to participate more directly in basketball activities than women.
In high school, Gingras noticed that men’s basketball teams constantly overshadowed the success of the women’s teams she was on. Although the majority of FYBA’s coaches and players are male, girls’ teams, which Gingras played for, have emerged as some of FYBA’s most competitive teams. Next March, Casapao plans to send a 14-and-under girls’ team to compete in a showcase tournament in the Philippines.
Playing with her brothers is what got Gingras into basketball initially, but FYBA gave Gingras her first opportunity to play on an all-girls team, through which she developed an appreciation for the friendships and camaraderie she could build with other girls through basketball.
“I still know most of the girls to this day. I’ve seen pictures of their weddings on Instagram,” Gingras said. “The girls’ side of that community was really special for me.”
Aurea Gingras playing in FYBA’s weekly “House League” shortly after she joined (Photo courtesy of Aurea Gingras).
After playing on competitive circuits and drawing the attention of scouts, Gingras played two years of high school basketball at Paul VI, which was ranked the top girls’ high school basketball program in the country by ESPN her freshman year.
After being on the bench in her freshman year, Gingras committed herself to a workout plan to earn playing time. On a typical day, she would lift weights after school, drive home, drive to the basketball gym for skills training, and then drive back home to complete an additional set of exercises, which included a four-minute wall sit. It took a toll on her health, so at George Washington University, where Gingras is now a senior, she is taking the year off from basketball to recharge.
In her freshman year of college, the Philippine women’s national basketball team reached out to Gingras. After nurturing her Filipino identity with FYBA, the dream of competing on behalf of the Philippines is one of her main motivators to return to the court.
“I’m hoping that as I transition back into playing basketball, that representing the Philippines on the court is something that I can do one day, because I feel like that’s just perfectly full-circle to me,” Gingras said.
“I really did get my start with basketball through FYBA and through this Filipino community, and to be on the court again wearing Philippines across my chest would be something incredibly special.”
Ethan Johanson is a student journalist at Georgetown University. He is interested in pursuing a journalism career in local news and writing about the intersections between sports and society.
