TOP Filipino female player Jack S. Animam will play professional basketball in Serbia.
This was announced by the many-time national team member and her agents at East West Private (EWP) in a virtual press conference on Monday night.
Ms. Animam, 22, will play for the Radnički Kragujevac squad in the Women’s Serbian League, where she hopes to continue her growth as a player.
“I’m just so happy, proud and honored to have come this far [in my basketball career],” a teary-eyed Ms. Animam said. “I just can’t thank my support group enough, the EWP, the people behind this.”
Ms. Animam had an illustrious collegiate career in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) with National University, helping the Lady Bulldogs to five straight UAAP titles (2015-2019) where they went undefeated throughout.
She also garnered top individual UAAP honors, winning the rookie of the year award in 2015, most valuable player in 2017 and Finals MVP in 2018. Ms. Animam was a four-time UAAP mythical team member (2016-2019) as well.
Along the way, she also was a member of the national team, which won gold in the Southeast Asia Basketball Association (SEABA) in 2016 and SEA Games in 2019 both in 3-on-3 and 5-on-5.
Last year, she played in Chinese Taipei for Shin Hsin University in the University Basketball Association where they went undefeated as well for the season.
She moved to the United States early this year to train with EWP after which she played briefly in the Atlanta Entertainment Basketball League (AEBL) before landing the deal to play in Serbia.
“This is a new challenge for me. I’m excited, but at the same time pressured. But I’m willing to learn and adapt with my new team,” said Ms. Animam, currently in the US but is set to leave for Serbia this week and will stay there for the rest of the local league’s season until March next year.
At Radnički Kragujevac, Ms. Animam will join a young team which finished eighth last season in the 12-team field with a 7-15 record.
“I can’t wait to go out there and play with them. I hope to bring my leadership and defensive mind-set there. I’m confident that I can have a great relationship with my team and for us to do great things together,” she said.
Also by playing in Serbia, Ms. Animam shared that she hopes she gets to show what Filipino women players can do and maybe open the doors for other Filipinas as well to play pro basketball in different parts of the world. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
