Vanessa de Jesus finally links up with Gilas in Melbourne

June 19 ------ The Gilas Women are getting locked in for the Women’s Asia Cup The Philippine women’s national basketball team arrived in Melbourne, Australia ahead of the 2023 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup on June 26. Finally joining the Filipina hoop stars is Vanessa de Jesus, who has recently committed to suit up for the squad, as shown on the team’s social media accounts.

Earlier this week, De Jesus shared in an online press conference how excited she is for her Gilas stint and how special this journey will be for her and her family. “Two of the most important things in my life are family and basketball,” she shared. “Since I was young I [already] understood this. Growing up, my family has been a huge part of who I am, I’m super close to my family. Probably, every weekend we’ll come over for poker nights or Manny Pacquiao watching parties so I understand how important family is,” she added.

The 5-foot-9 guard from Duke University also shared how she basically grew up being a student of the game. “And with basketball, growing up, I understood how much you love basketball. My parents used to tell me that back home that there will always be games going on, just watching NBA games, and just playing basketball. With my cousins, we’d go to the park, I would shoot with my parents, it was just always around,” she said.

This is why she will cherish this opportunity and hopes that by lacing up for the national team, she will be able to develop both as a player and as an individual. “Having the opportunity to represent both on a national level, I'm just very excited about it. I look forward to growing as a leader and as a player by competing on this global stage,” she said.

As for her family, she revealed that they are just as ecstatic as she is. “They’re like so excited. They were like ‘When are you going to take your trip back to the Philippines?’ They are all so supportive and very happy for me, and I know that they know that I’ve wanted to do this for a while now. I love and I’m so happy that I have their support and I’ll probably take a trip to the Philippines sometime soon.”

De Jesus and the rest of Gilas Women’s will open their FIBA campaign on June 26 against Australia.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com