Animam pays it forward with free cage camp
MALOLOS, BULACAN—Jack Danielle Animam came back to an old stomping ground on Saturday bearing the gift of wisdom, only to find herself on the receiving end of something just as meaningful.
A multitime national team anchor and hands-down the poster girl of women’s basketball here, Animam got a reminder of where her journey began and where it could go next.
“When I got there and was about to speak in front of the kids, I couldn’t do it—honestly,” the 26-year-old decorated center told the Inquirer. “Even before I could open my mouth, I was already on the verge of tears. I was emotional from the start because, you know, I was just so grateful just seeing the kids.
“To have this camp for them? I never imagined that one day I’d be the one standing in front of kids, organizing a camp myself,” she added. “It’s really a different kind of feeling. I froze at that moment. I didn’t know exactly what I was feeling—except that I was happy and grateful seeing the kids’ smiles and the spark in their eyes. It was incredible.”
Animam, who has been serving the national program since she was 13, staged her first-ever basketball camp at the Malolos Sports and Convention Center, a venue about 13 minutes from the very house she grew up in.
It was the realization of a dream she had nurtured since she ditched a badminton racket for the hardwood of basketball, upon the request of her high school principal, Robert Toledo.
“There weren’t many opportunities where I could join basketball camps for free. Or maybe I just didn’t know of any,” Animam recalled. “But this is something I told myself back then—that one day, I’ll create my own camp for kids. A free one, to pay it forward, to give back, because I was once like them, you know?”
Dozens of youngsters—both girls and boys—were provided with some skills training and rare access to the minds of Animam and her mentor, the equally decorated coach and Gilas Pilipinas Women program director Pat Aquino, during the session held in an outdoor court that bore a mural of the Malolos native herself.
“I was born and raised here, so this really is a full-circle moment for me. Like I said earlier, it’s also a homecoming of sorts. It’s one of the milestones in my career as a basketball player,” she said.
“But more importantly, it’s also for young Jack. That her dreams are beginning to unfold.
“I want them to experience how life-changing sports can be for one person.”
