Talented Fil-Am guard Sofia Roman visits PH, tries out for women's national team

I’ve written about her twice before, first, early in her US NCAA Division I college basketball career at Dartmouth, and then before her sophomore year in 2013 when I had a chance to meet her in New York City. It surely has not been an easy ride for Filipina hoopster Sofia Roman, but she continues to persevere, hoping for a bigger chance to showcase her skills this coming season, her third on the Big Green.

In June 2014, Sofia took time over the summer to come to the Philippines to visit relatives and, primarily, to meet the team officials, coaches and players of the Discovery Perlas Philippine Women’s Basketball Team and, perhaps, get in a workout or two with them, for them to decide if she could crack the lineup. 

She had been in touch for some time with Perlas Coach Haydee Ong and Sofia had informed Ong that she intended to come to Manila in 2015 for an internship.  Coach Haydee requested her to arrive sooner so, with some time to spare in her summer break, Sofia made the trip in order to iron out details of her possible entry into the national squad.  For ten days, Sofia was in the Philippines, almost purely for basketball reasons, but, as she said, there was time for some shopping and a lot of eating!

The first thing she did when she arrived was (guess what?) to play basketball. It was quite hard to play while still recovering from jetlag, but she knew the real reason she was here, and got to work. Two days in, she played in a men’s league in Subic in front of family and friends, including her grandmother, and she did not disappoint them, scoring more than twenty points.  According to her father, Attorney Tonyboy Roman, who accompanied her to the Philippines, the men she played with were taken by surprise by Sofia’s style of play.  They were clearly impressed.

A day later, she joined a scrimmage, again with men, organized by Coach Allan Gregorio.  Present were Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) official Bernie Atienza and several college coaches.  Feedback was good, as they all said they liked what they saw.  The next day was the Independence Day holiday, but there was no rest for Sofia as she practiced with the Adamson University Women’s team and some other prospective Perlas players, supervised by Coach Haydee.  It was her first time to play against women here, and, for some reason, she says she did not play as well as she did in the days before against the men.

Coach Haydee organized another workout with Perlas mainstays like Joan Grajales and Melissa Jacob, and Sofia felt she did much better, hitting her mid to long range shots and playing better defense.  She was also asked to play the one, and relished her role as a scoring point guard.

After this workout, Coach Haydee informed Sofia that she had made the team. Sofia was elated. Coach Haydee gave her a list of things to work on and the two are in touch, as Sofia periodically gives her coach progress updates. Sofia is also trying to keep in touch with the other Perlas players. She is scheduled to return in March 2015 when Perlas begins preparations for the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.

In the meantime, Sofia is focused on the upcoming US NCAA Season. Last season, under first-year coach Belle Koclanes, Dartmouth won only five games, so there is much to improve.  Koclanes will be bringing in her first set of recruits, but there are several holdovers from last season and Sofia is looking forward to having the chance to show what she can do more often. 

Sofia did not get to play much early in the season, but her playing time increased towards the end, and she saw action in seventeen games total. She was instructed to concentrate on her defense, since her quickness, athleticism, and ability to stay low, made her effective doing that.  She knows she can shoot and score, but is dead set on doing whatever it takes to help the team win.  She is longing for an increased opportunity to contribute.

Academics-wise, Sofia said that her already above-average grades improved in her second year.  She intends to pursue subjects focused on Government and Political Science and says that she has discovered a very different side of her since enrolling at Dartmouth, an Ivy League school known for its excellence in academics.

Sofia remembers her short visit to the Philippines very fondly.  She was able to visit her home province of Bataan and meet her relatives there.  She toured the House of Representatives on the day Andray Blatche was there, and had a picture with her now “kababayan” (countryman).  She was able to watch a couple of PBA games held at the Philsports Arena (formerly ULTRA), witnessing Asi Taulava get bloodied by a wayward elbow, only to come back and carry his team to victory.

Tickets to the PBA games were courtesy of Gregorio and Sofia’s cousin, PBA big man Enrico Villanueva.  She was impressed with the play of Alex Cabagnot, whom she says plays a lot like Steve Nash, how physical the games were, the “no-nonsense” style of play where, even with a lack of height, the players showed skill, speed and hustle.  She appreciates the mass appeal of the PBA and is amazed at the fan support and how the crowd would react to the great plays.

I sat with Sofia and her dad during the PBA games they watched and introduced them to my partner on the TV panel, PBA veteran Ali Peek, and Alaska Coach Alex Compton who, upon learning that Sofia plays for Dartmouth, immediately told her that he played for Cornell.  The Ivy Leaguers smiled as Sofia said “Go Big Green!”, referring to her school, and Coach Alex said “Go Big Red!”, referring to Cornell.

Ali in particular was eager to get to know Sofia and offered to shoot some hoops or work out with her if she had time. When I informed Sofia of this invitation, she made time and got to work out with Ali and his trainer, the popular plyometrics coach, John Aquino.  Sofia even had some TV exposure as she was featured as the PLDT Telpad Selfie of the game during the PBA coverage.

After this coming year of working hard, training with some of the best college athletes in the US, and, hopefully, gaining more and more exposure, Sofia will be back in the Philippines to don the national colors and try to help Discovery Perlas in its quest to uplift Philippine women’s basketball.  Hopefully, she can gel with her teammates here and help bring more basketball glory to our country. I’ve seen her play. Filipino basketball fans should be looking forward to her return.

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