Interview with Adrian Valderrama: Filipino NCAA Mens Basketball Player

From the tan bark to the hardwood, I have known this deadly sharp shooter since I was 5 years old. On the court he has ice in his veins, but he is one of the nicest guys I know.

Adrian Valderrama has a calm demeanor on the sideline coaching his teammates on what they can improve on. He doesn’t yell, not curse his teammates out. He simply says, “Keep doin' what you’re doin'.” He gives tips for defense and creates plays for others. A true point guard.

From playing jungle ball to starting point guard at Dominican University, Valderrama has grown much from rockin' that St. Victor’s uniform. And here is my interview with the former Penguin.

During your college experience, what schools did you play at?

"I played at De Anza Junior College for two years, the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons. I then transferred to Dominican University where I played for two years, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009."

What position did you play and what was your role on each team?

"At both De Anza and Dominican I played point guard all four years. As a point guard I was asked to be a leader on the court and be an extension of the coach. My goal while playing basketball was to be a player that made all the players around him better. When it came to practice I always tried my best to bring leadership and unselfishness to the team."

Growing up, where else did you play? Please include youth leagues and middle school & high school.

"Growing up I started playing basketball for the Berryessa Community Center Sports League until I was old enough to play for my school team. In the 5th grade I began to play for St. Victor's where I played until the 8th grade. For High School I attended Piedmont Hills where I played my first two years on the Junior Varsity and my junior and senior year on Varsity."

For people who do not know you, what nationality are you?

"I am half Filipino and half Portuguese."

Did you ever feel disadvantaged when playing bigger guards?

As a smaller guard I always felt that height was the one thing that I could never change in my game. I would feel disadvantaged at times when teams would put a bigger defender on me to guard me but it was something that I became accustomed to.

What skills did you use to your advantage against the guy guarding you?

Although I was small I felt that I had quickness over my opponents. A lot of times I would try to outsmart my opponents by looking at tendencies in there games and use that to my advantage.

What is your most memorable basketball moment?

My sophomore year at De Anza College I hit the game winning three pointer versus Cabrillo College.

So, what was your major in college?

I got my B.A. in Business Administration with a concentration in Management.

What are your plans for after college?

I am looking to take a year off of school and go back and get my Masters. I also hope to start coaching basketball at the Collegiate level at a school in the Bay Area.

For all us 5'8 Filipinos, Adrian has given Filipinos hope to play in the college level someday. Adrian is one of many who have opened up the doors to the Asian Community to play at the collegiate level. He has excelled at the sport he loves and has graduated from school. He is someone to look up to for our younger generation.

So Close....

Ever since school broke out for the summer, there were a couple of things I wanted to do before summer came to an end. I'm sure everyone has a "to-do" list every summer, such as go learn a new skill or go on a mini vacation. I had a ton of things on my "to-do" list, such as learn to swim and GET A JOB! Here's a look at my to-do list:

FIND A JOB

Road trip

Yoga

Dream League

Buy a Mac

Learn to Swim

Learn new songs for the uke

Cable Car

FIND A JOB

Watch:

• Transformers
• GI JOE (idk about this one anymore)
  
• 500 days of Summer
• UP
• Hangover

Id hyperdunks (prob not gonna happen)

Learn to swim

Bike the Golden Gate Bridge

Run from school to the apartment

Go to A’s game

Go to Giants game

Buy a bike

FIND A JOB

Start a blog site

What's on your to-do list?

"Potential"

"Capable of being or becoming," and that is what Spiffy Clothing should have been. Capable of being successful and growing into a clothing line that people can relate to as consumers. 5 creative college students with a business plan and a drive to start their own business came to a screeching halt when their pieces didn't fall in the right places.

Allen, Charisse, Jason, Jayson and I all had one goal: Show the public that you don't have to be flashy to be noticed. Toning down our designs would hopefully make people realize that you don't have to be super trendy to be "cool". We didn't want our designs to be too chaotic that people didn't understand the message behind our name. As in a previous post: Spiffy-used to describe something as unique or amusing; fine looking, neat or cool. That was what we were going for! We didn't just want to have a random name that had no meaning behind it.

Spiffy Clothing got the ball rolling when we were able to design NYU's Fil-Am organization club t-shirt. Next on our list was to build a printing press. Building a printing press would help us lower our costs by not having to hire a printing service print our designs onto t-shirts. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but we wasted a lot of money for something we didn't finish building.

Spiffy was going no where. Summer was coming to an end and two of our team members left. What can you do when the person designing the shirts and printing expert leave the public relations and marketing/management members? Nothing.

Spiffy Clothing was good when it lasted. But this is what I want to do with this blog. A new beginning. Spiffy Clothing was supposed to create an awareness for a simple style. I want to create an awareness for people/businesses not recognized for their accomplishments. HellaSpiffy will be capable of being or becoming when it's all said and done.

The First Annual 3-on-3 St. Victor's Alumni Basketball Tournament

He shoots... He scores!!!

Today was the First Annual St. Victor's 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament located in beautiful San Jose, Ca.  It was a gathering of old and new St. Victor Elementary School alumni going head to head for bragging rights of which 3-on-3 alumni team was the best.  The whole tournament was put on by Sammy Fernandez, with the help of volunteers from S.V.'s class of '99 and others, to help raise money for the 8th grade class trip in the Fall.

The tournament was set up round robin style, where everyone plays everyone.  There were a total of two divisions, so everyone in Division A played everyone in that division while everyone Division B played everyone in that division (confused?).

The two favorite teams going into the tournament were the '01 Elite (Jaime Gamab, Lionel Milan and Adrian Valderrama) and the Minority Report (Ryan Ata, Chris Harris and Marcelo Macaranas).  The competition was great.  The class '07 boys were big time sleepers.  The older alumni could not even remember who these kids were, but the '01 Elite were able to stand their ground against these young ballers.  The womens teams were also thrown into the mix against the mens.  The WU-MAN team went into the playoffs with the record of 3-1, rewarding them with the 3rd seed out of the top 8 teams (9 total teams).  

The playoffs started off with a fight for the last and final seed.  This match consisted of the Blue Pandas and JAK Attack, and the winner would go up against the undefeated '01 Elite.  JAK Attack consisted of Jency Butler, Alexa Tee and Kayla Dizon.  These three ladies played on an S.V. team and at Notre Dames High School SJ.  JAK Attack would go on and advance to the next round and put up a fight against the favorite '01 Elite, but JAK Attack fell short in the end.  

Game after game went on and finally it reached the championship game...

'01 Elite vs Minority Report.  

Both teams went undefeated going into the finals and both teams had something to prove: Who's better? '01 or '02?  Just to give a little background on the '01 Elite: the 3 players were part of the league championship team that went 8-0, the last S.V. boys team to go undefeated.  Was this another chance for this team to go undefeated and win another title?

This was a hard-fought game to start with.  Minority Report lead the beginning of the game with the active and crafty play of Ata (former Mitty High School player).  Macaranas spread the ball across the court, while Harris did work in the paint against the '01 Elite.  But as soon as the score reached 6-6, the '01 Elites never looked back.  Valderamma (former Dominican University point guard) was able to split through the Minority Report defense and create open looks for Gamab and Milan.  The game was finally in the hands of the '01 Elite when Gamab  "banked" a doubtful looking 3-pointer.  The score was 12-9.  Milan made a running lay-up and Valderrama the game winning 3-pointer ending the game with a score of 15-9.  

'01 Elite were crowned champions once again.

*notable players: Jason Gasmin, Kayla Dizon, Mary Cheung, Alexa Angel, Nadine Arteche, Quan Ngo, Sammy Fernandez, Charmaine Milan, Alexa Tee, Karl Valdez, '07 boys team.

**special thanks to: '99 alumni, parents, Sammy Fernandez, Erika Illanan, Lionel Milan.

Upcoming interviews:

Adrian Valderrama: Filipino NCAA Men's Basektball Player (Dominican University)

Kiko Liwag: Ulam Clothing

Gussies: Chicken and Waffles

Chicago's Barbershop SF

Mary Cheung: Photographer and Inspirations

Spiffy

The definition says it all. "Used to describe something as unique or amusing. Fine looking, neat or cool." I hope this blog will present just that, and progress into something more than just a blog.

I chose the name spiffy because it was the name of a failed clothing line that a group of friends and myself tried to do in the summer of '09. It had a lot of potential but things just did not fall in the right place. But the name stuck in the back of my mind and I always wanted to put its great name to use. And tah-dah! It is part of the name of this rookie blog.

Stay tuned for more things to come.