Girls were the first to play the game in 1905 – a feat that should establish the Philippines as pioneer in women’s basketball with the Americans as the sport teachers and it was not until five (5) years later when boys competed in their fist basketball tournament.
Records show that girl’s basketball was included as a minor sport officials of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and then Bureau of Education when the Bicol Athletic Association was organized in 1905.
The 1911 Carnival Athletic Meet in Manila, which became the forerunner of the new different Interscholastics, produced the first official tournament for girls and Tondo Intermediate School topped the five-team field.
Provincial teams joined the series the following year and Pampanga captured the crown, but Tondo came back to wrest the title in 1913. Anti-Feminists among the division superintendents of schools then dropped the event from inter-provincial meets in 1914 and the Manila Carnival scratched it from its athletic fare.
The biennial Far Eastern Games, a triangular affair launched in 1913 in Manila through the efforts of the Manila YMCA in cooperation with similar YMCA outfits in China and Japan, served as the initial showcase of the Filipino’s distinguished talents in basketball.
The basketball series in the Far Eastern Games was a monopoly of Filipinos, whom won nine (9) out of the ten (10) championships in the sportsfest that was held until 1934. The only time the Filipinos missed the title was in 1921, in the fifth edition of the games in shanghai, when the Chinese subdued the RP Five 30-27.
Organized basketball tournaments started in 1910. Games were held mostly outdoors at the Nozaleda Park. For indoor action, however, the Manila YMCA and the Armory in Intramuros were the popular venues. To fill the need for more sports facilities, the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation, in 1934, made the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, which became the regular home of the national tournaments after hosting the last basketball competition of the Far Eastern Games.
The Manila YMCA quintet became the first national champions when it topped the 1910 tournament that included a team from Mckinley and the Columbia Club. The event was called the Senior National Basketball Championship but because of the composition of line-ups, the champion squad was referred to as the American-European division winner. A separate Filipino division was introduced in 1916 and 1924 with the locals now enjoying equal rating with the Americans and the European, the two divisions were merged to give to the National Open Championships.
The YMCA cagers held the American-European title for seven (7) years until the US Army squad grabbed the crown in 1917. YMCA ascended to the throne anew in 1918, and stayed there for still another year before 15th Infantry Team bagged the title in 1920. A crew from the fighting ”US Huron” took over the next season. The Columbia Club finally made it in the 1922 and the Asiatic Fleet Officers in 1923.
The Internal Revenue squad claimed the First Philippine Senior title disputed in 1916. University of the Philippines won it the next year but the Revenue side wrested the crown in 1918 and held on to it for more years. Reach, the strongest among the teams, became the champion in 1921, the Spartans graced the winner circle in 1922 and the city YMCA won in 1923.
Manila Sporting goods, dramatizing the tremendous improvement of the Filipinos in the sport, scored back-to-back victories in the first two staging of the National Open. Gifted with a long list of talents, UP reigned supreme from 1926 to 1929. The Manila Interscholastic Association stashed away the title in 1930, the NCAA’s break through in 1931 and the Meralco Athletic Club made it in 1932.
Basketball in the Philippines has been a huge part of its culture. Wherever you will go—be it in the streets of Metro Manila or in the provinces—the basketball court will always be present. Just by walking in the streets of a certain community, there will always be a place where boys will be playing basketball. It can be a makeshift half court with a D.I.Y. ring, or a covered court complete with other facilities like the scoreboard and the benches.
Local government units would always put up basketball clinics during summer, or launch a basketball league to advocate sports among the youth. Some advocacies push for their participation and interest in basketball rather than being involved in drug-related activities and other crimes.
Despite a lack of height, basketball fanatics—mostly boys—go through their interest in the sports in their young years, which can be pursued as they grow older.
While people in the United States have the National Basketball Association (NBA), which Filipinos are also a fan of, our local version is the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), which was established in 1975 and composed of stalwart Filipino players who have gained a lot of following from their fellow countrymen.
Today, Filipino fans would stay glued on their televisions during the season, or sometimes, they would buy tickets to be at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, a popular venue for basketball games, to cheer for their bets. Local celebrities and other athletes also support them, making PBA an important league for the sports industry.
Aside from that, if you are from the younger generation and would love to watch players your age, you can also watch the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), founded in 1938, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1924. These leagues feature different university and colleges in the country who battle over for a yearly championship. In the UAAP history, the University of Santo Tomas has the most numbers of championships with 40 trophies under its name. NCAA, meanwhile, has the San Beda College with 41.
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