UV Baby Lancer Rosete keeps the faith at Batang Pinoy

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Sto. Nino and his parents’ presence aside from his teammates “never give up attitude” are the things that 17-year-old Jake Justin Perry Rosete leaned on when he led the Cebu City 3×3 basketball team to gold in the recently-held 2016 Batang Pinoy National Finals in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

“Ganahan jud ko mo duwa basta naa akoa parent’s mo tan-aw kay panagsa lang bya sila maka kita sa akoa mo duwa gud (I really like to play when my parents are watching the game coz they do not often see me play),” said the small forward, forward of the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers.

This year, team Cebu City 3×3 basketball boys was manned by members of the UV Baby Lancers which won the secondary boys title in the Cebu City Olympics. He was joined in the team by Jim Paul Amistoso, Beirn Anthony Laurente and Jearolan Omandac, who is a native of Tagum. They were coached by Delfin Pepito.

Rosete is a native of Davao City but is an athletic scholar of UV, thus he instead played for the Cebu City delegation.

Rosete’s parents, Rogelio, a policeman, and Virgilia, a housewife, had to travel two hours by bus from Davao City to Tagum to watch their youngest son play.

Rosete, the youngest of 5 siblings said that even before he was scouted by UV scouting coach Van Halen Parmis last year, he and his dad had already agreed that he would tryout for UV in Cebu City. 

Despite the distance, the Rosete family is making the sacrifice because of their shared ambition of making Justin a good basketball player. This is also the reason why they had no other school in mind but UV, which this year bagged its 11th collegiate title in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI).

“Oo UV kay mao man ang ganahan sa akoa papa gud…nya ganahan man pud ko. Daghan man gud maayo na players nag gikan diri gud.” (Yes UV because it is what my father like, and I also like it. That is because there have been so many good players coming from here.)

How He Got into Basketball

Rosete was no stranger to basketball while growing up. His father used to play in barangay leagues and he taught his youngest son the sport starting when he was 8 years old.

“Bata pako gina tudloan man ko sa akoa papa sauna duwa ug basketball gud nya kung naa silay duwa patan’awon ko niya.” (My dad taught me how to play basketball and when they have games, he makes me watch.)

With his height (Rosete stands 6-foot-one) it was inevitable that he would follow in his older brothers’ footsteps of becoming a varsity player. One of his brothers used to play for Philippine Women’s College of Davao while another had played for the Davao Central College.   

For his part, Rosete became a varsity of EMAR Human Environmental College. 

Rocky Start

However, Rosete’s transition to Cebu basketball has been patchy so far. First, he had to repeat 9th grade as his former school gave him failing marks as his transfer to Cebu didn’t sit well with them. This resulted to him sitting out last year’s CESAFI junior basketball contest.

Then this year, when he finally got to play, he got embroiled in a controversy when he was accused of “head-locking” an opponent while fighting for the ball. During the actual game itself, no such thing was called by the referee. There wasn’t even mention of the word headlock then.

But the next day, photos were posted and shared on Facebook accusing Rosete of the act which led to the youngster getting cyber bullied. Because the photos were incriminating, UV team manager Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr suspended Rosete for the Baby Lancers’ 4 remaining elimination games.

The CESAFI, however, made no decision as no complaint had been filed against Rosete.

Asked if he has gotten over the “headlock” issue, Rosete said that the incident was already in the past and that there was no need to discuss it again and again.

“It’s just a game. Wala ko paki kung unsa tan’aw sa akoa sa uban tao pero di siya akoa tuyo ato, ang bola.” (I don’t care how other people see me but I wasn’t aiming for him then, my goal was the ball.)

Thankful to the Sto Nino        

Rosete said that despite breezing past their opponents in the elimination stage during the Batang Pinoy, the team still did not expect to bag the gold because their opposing teams were bigger and taller than them.

“Happy kaayo kay nakuha namo amoa goal.” (I am very happy because we achieved our goal.)

While the team had it easy during the bracket stage, they faced an uphill climb on the final day of competition. First, they had to get past Zamboanga del Sur, a team whom they’ve never won against in tune-up games, to advance to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, they were put to task by Davao City before they earned the ticket to face Zamboanga City. Both teams were represented by Ateneo athletes.

“Sige rami ingon sa ilaha na last day na nato nya kailangan daug salig ta sa atoa usag-usa.” (We keep telling them this is our last day thus we need to win. We should trust in each other.)

Not only were the teams tougher, Rosete and his teammates also had to contend with a crowd that is cheering for their opponents.  

But there was one more presence in the Rotary Park Gym that motivated Rosete and his teammates—the Sto. Nino which was carried by Cebu City Sports Commission executive director Gayle Grace H. Dico to the games.

“Nag pasalamat jud ko kay Sto. Nino kay iyang gihatag sa amoa ang gold.” (I am thankful to the Sto. Nino because he gave us the gold.) – Rappler.com