Thirdy Ravena on being ruled ineligible: ‘Nothing I can do but grow’

MANILA, Philippines – The Ateneo Blue Eagles’ campaign for the 2015 UAAP men’s basketball season has already taken a sour turn after Team Manager Epok Quimpo confirmed this week that Thirdy Ravena would be ineligible this season after failing to meet the university’s minimum grade requirement for student-athletes. 

Thirdy, the younger brother of reigning UAAP MVP Kiefer Ravena, told Rappler that he attained a QPI (Quality Point Index) of 1.67, which falls just 0.13 short of Ateneo’s 1.8 QPI mandate. 

According to the former UAAP Junior’s MVP, the subject he struggled with was calculus, which is one of the courses required by the university to major in his degree of Communications Technology Management. 

The curriculum of Ravena’s degree on Ateneo’s website lists the exact subject name as “Applied Calculus for Business,” which takes 6 of the total 156 units required to graduate. Ravena said that he was supposed to take the course in the second semester of his first year in the university, but took it instead in the first semester. 

“There’s nothing I can do but grow from it,” Ravena said about the upcoming UAAP season that he’s going to sit out.

“I’m not focusing on what people are saying right now. I’m just focusing on getting myself better to come back and be a better player next year – not just inside the court, but also in school.” 

Ravena is currently training with the Gilas team after being named to the 16-man pool for the Southeast Asian Games but missed the final 12-man roster.

The 21-year-old played sparingly in his rookie season, appearing in 12 games and averaging 1.42 points and 1.5 rebounds in 6.75 minutes per game, according to pba-online.net.

Ravena stressed that he’s going to use the free time he’s going to have not only to add to his basketball skills, but also to increase his grades. His less-busy itinerary will also give him more liberty to properly schedule his upcoming tasks, along with getting more hours of rest. 

Said Ravena: 

“I can do both. Given the time since I’m not going to practice with the seniors, it could be an opportunity for me to be better as a player and also as a student, because I’m not going to be pressured into practicing, not going to think about whether or not I’m going to sleep late because I have practice. So I’m just going to do my thing and be better.” 

Ravena’s absence comes at a bad time following the departure of last season’s starting forward Chris Newsome, who together with Kiefer Ravena was part of the league’s Mythical Five and led the Blue Eagles to an 11-3 elimination round record, which was good enough for the no. one seed in the Final Four round. 

Aside from Newsome, who played his final year of eligibility in 2014, Ateneo also lost starting point guard Nico Elorde. But despite their losses, Ravena still feels the Blue Eagles will be title contenders in Season 78, which opens on September 5. 

“Everybody out there in the team, I know they’re going to do whatever it takes,” Ravena said about Ateneo, which will welcome key recruits Jerie Pingoy and Hubert Cani this season. 

“It’s not just one man, it’s in everyone. So kahit isang tao lang mawala (so even if only one person is gone), it doesn’t matter because everyone, they just have to stick together as a team and play together.” 

– Rappler.com