Filipinos chase hoop dreams on streets of the UAE

“It is not about basketball,” says Jonnel Leonardo, known to all as Jaja, from his regular spot on the sidelines of Arab Park Basketball Court in Satwa.

The 40-year-old, from Pasay, just south of Manila, has been a basketball coach for 20 years and works in marketing in a gold shop in Satwa. He says the sport brings together people from different parts of the Philippines who may otherwise have little in common.

Jaja runs a busy WhatsApp group through which regular sessions at the court are organised.

While the standard of play can vary wildly, elite athletes and casuals alike compete with the same joy, staving off any homesickness for at least an evening.

“This sport of basketball, the Filipinos, all of them, they love it. It is the number one sport in our country,” says Jaja, who is head coach of the Batang Satwa community team, the 11-time champions of the Satwa court.

“Lots of Filipinos are living here in Satwa. There are a lot of Filipino restaurants here – it does not feel like being very far from our country. We all have to work, and after work, we come here.

“Even if they are working 10 hours in restaurants, they will play basketball. They will change clothes, bring shoes and play. And at 9pm or 10pm, they go home, eat and sleep, and then the next day, they do it again.”

During the week, players begin to arrive at the court late in the afternoon, travelling from Deira, Bur Dubai and beyond. Most wear makeshift uniforms collected over years of competing in outdoor leagues. The uniforms are often inspired by the designs, names or colours of popular NBA teams.

On weekends, the action begins in the morning and can continue until well past midnight as dozens of players arrive, work up a sweat and leave.

“This is like Rucker Park to us, because we have a lot of strong players, they are pro players in our country,” says Jaja. “They are high-class players. And at this court, they have lots of people watching them. And [unlike others in the country], this court is free.

“The pro players and legends have been here. That's why this is one of the most famous basketball courts in Dubai.”

Alberto Paguirigan, a barista, has been a regular at Dubai’s outdoors courts since moving to the Emirates 14 years ago.

“Everybody comes every day after work,” he says. “They will remove stress. That's why they want to play basketball.”

Paguirigan played basketball for the University of the East in Manila from 2007 to 2009.

“I am no superstar, but I'm still playing at 42,” he says. “Since I was a child, that has been my hobby. We need that for our body. It maintains fitness. But I am not the oldest [player here]. The oldest one is 49.

“I like to play in the morning, because you know the temperature is going to be low.

“Sometimes 200 people will come in one day.”

Because of the sheer number of players hoping to get on to the court, the UAE’s Filipino community has adopted a set of rules that differ slightly to those at courts in other parts of the world. Here, two teams of five players play games up to 25 points, with two points given for shots outside what is traditionally the three-point line, and one point for shots inside the line.

At outdoor courts in the US and Europe, victorious teams usually face a new challenger. But among this community, both the winning and losing teams are replaced by two new groups of five to make sure everyone gets to play.

“We play to 25 points. But sometimes even that is too quick, because there's a lot of good shooters,” says Jaja. “The players are very small, you know, but they can shoot. Their skill is shooting. You cannot power up your height if you're not big, but you can improve your shooting skills.

“And if you lose, you pay for the Gatorade and the water (for the other team).”

Teams are chosen before each game, often separating friends who hoped to play together.

“They ask if they can come with five players, saying ‘I want to stay together’,” said Jaja. “But soon they are asking other players ‘what's your name?’ And this is how they will build friendship.

“In our country, they may come from Mindanao (an island in the southern region of the Philippines) or Manila, but now they are one big community. They have organised Christmas parties for friends and families, they cook food for each other.

“It's not about basketball. It is about family and friends.”

Basketball is a sport associated with the tallest among us. After all, the basket stands 3.05 metres in the air – out of reach of all but those gifted with height or extreme athletic ability.

Most NBA greats tower above the average person in the street. NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal is 2.16 metres. Kareem Abdul Jabbar is 2cm taller. Even Michael Jordan, at 1.98 metres, would have to duck to avoid door frames if he wore a thick-soled shoe.

The Philippines has the world’s fifth-lowest average height, according to a Business Insider ranking in 2023, based on a medical database run by NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, a project linked to Imperial College London. The study said the average Filipino man was 1.63 metres.

So how did an American sport in which height is considered such a crucial factor become such an important part of Filipino culture?

Basketball was introduced by the US colonial government in the early 1900s as part of the physical education programme for a new public school system. Initially considered a sport for girls, its popularity quickly rose among boys and men.

By 1936, the Philippines had formed its first men’s national basketball team and began competing in international tournaments. In the 1960s, the country won its first FIBA Asia Championship.

Facing taller nations in global competition, Filipino stars were forced to rely on their superior speed to create scoring chances through fast breaks – quick dribbling and passing down court before defences are set – and long-range shooting.

This exciting version of the game had them hooked.

From there, basketball developed to suit this style, and to compensate for the relative lack of giants in the Asian country.

In his 2010 book, Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin' in Flip-Flops and the Philippines' Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball, US author and journalist Rafe Bartholomew is told by anthropologist Michael Tan that Filipinos fell in love with basketball because of its fast-paced and action-packed style of play, with far more scoring chances than football or baseball.

Watch a game of streetball between Filipino players and you can count on one hand the amount of times a player will “post up”, when a player uses height or strength to back down an opponent before trying to score close to the basket.

Instead, expect a flurry of three-point shots or quick, athletic drives to the hoop. Lots of scoring, defence at a premium – and little time for the bigger players to set up near the basket and wait for the ball.

So while the Philippines fell in love with a sport of giants, it soon retooled the game it to match the strengths of its players.

Filipino love for basketball does not begin and end with those good enough to compete – its fans are known as some of the most passionate in the world.

In the UAE, when Filipino teams are invited to compete, they can expect to be greeted by crowds of compatriots who will treat them as the home team.

Basketball coach and Philippines TV commentator Jude Roque has experienced this first-hand from his compatriots in the UAE.

Jude, 54, is general manager of Manila’s San Beda University men's basketball varsity team, part of the country’s National Collegiate Athletic Association.

He learnt of the passion of UAE-based fans as assistant coach for the Philippines national team – referred to as Smart Gilas Pilipinas – at the Dubai International Basketball Championship in 2010 and 2011. He returned to the emirate as the squad’s team manager in 2013.

The team won third place in the tournament during their first trip, despite being one of the few teams without a star foreigner. They went one better in their second visit, reaching the final before losing against Al Etihad Alexandria of Egypt, a professional team featuring mostly international players, alongside two strong US imports.

“I wasn't surprised at all with the passion of the fans,” says Jude. “I knew the Filipinos were going to come out and support the Philippine teams. And the fans from the Middle East were also very animated and loud – especially the Lebanese.”

Each time, Filipino fans packed arenas, cheering for their heroes from the opening tip-off to the final buzzer.

Jude is well-known in his home country’s basketball circles as a TV, radio and online commentator for the professional Philippine Basketball Association. His 2007 book, A Time To Roar, tells the story of how San Beda broke a 28-year title drought to win the 2006 NCAA championship.

The university’s rich history includes producing Carlos Loyzaga, widely considered the greatest Filipino basketball player of all time, who led the country to a bronze medal in the 1954 Fiba World Cup.

Jude brought his San Beda team to Dubai in 2018 – the first time his country had been represented by a college team at the tournament.

Despite failing to notch a win, San Beda were competitive against the UAE national team and almost defeated a Tunisian professional team featuring six national players and two Americans, losing by a point after two free throws by the Tunisians with just four seconds remaining.

“It was an incredible experience, which was why I brought my college team there,” he said. “I wish I could come back one more time.”

Jude says Filipinos are immensely proud of their association with basketball, as fans and players.

“ [Watching and playing], they are both important – playing keeps us competitive, watching keeps the sport alive here as fans continue to flock to games,” he says.

“Perhaps one of the reasons why the sport is popular here is you don't really need expensive equipment. All you need is a small space, a wooden board, a steel ring and a basketball. I remember when I was a kid, cheap basketballs were available in department stores. They weren't very durable, but they were affordable.

“In almost every street corner in Manila, you can find a half-court basketball playground. And people of all ages play there the entire day. We've been playing half-court tournaments here in four against four, three on three, and two on two formats in local communities. It's been going on for almost a century now.

“Today, the Philippines is one of the top Asian countries in the Fiba ranking. I think we're the only Asian country where basketball is the number one sport. And we're proud of it.”

Filipinos in Dubai looking to cheer for a home-grown star can look no further than one of the city's newest professional sports teams.

Dubai BC became the first UAE team to compete in a major European league in September when its ABA League campaign began.

The team features Filipino guard Ferdinand “Thirdy” Ravena, a 28-year-old signed from the Japanese professional league.

And while Ravena now makes a living playing on hardwood courts in air-conditioned arenas, he knows all about the concrete floors and wire cages of street basketball.

“I basically grew up playing outdoor hoops the Filipino way,” he says. “We were on cement. I grew up playing three-on-three half-court basketball pretty much my whole childhood.

“Then when I moved to varsity basketball when I started playing for teams and had to switch up, but streetball was where I started. That was where a lot of people started in the Philippines.”

Ravena says while he is not getting on to the court as much as he would like with Dubai BC, he is learning a lot from the experience. He has even taken his turn as a fan, cheering on his compatriots at Dubai’s Satwa court.

“Filipinos are crazy about basketball – to us it's like religion,’ he says. “It's the most famous sport, a lot of culture, a lot of history behind it, and especially playing overseas.

“When I moved out to Japan, I didn't know how serious Filipinos were in basketball until I went to the gym and I saw more Filipinos than the locals out there, and it's the same story when I go when I went out here in Dubai.

“I had family friends who … brought me to the court in Satwa and I saw everything and I was like, wow, Filipinos really do love basketball.

“I didn't even play [in Satwa] but just watching them makes me really happy. I know what they're feeling whenever they're playing.

“They come from work and they all go there just to be themselves, just be with their friends, be with their peers, and just have a great time, not think about anything else outside of basketball, and that's kind of what basketball does to me.

“It brings me to a certain place where I don't think about anything else and I just, I just fall in love with the sport and I just fall in love with the process. It's nice to see it, just the energy of being there.

“It's a cultural thing for us, no matter what shape, whether the floor is level or not, whether the ring will be a tree and a hoop tied up, it's the same. To us it's basketball and it's what we love.”