Sports

Gallery of Eagles: Double Take

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Published July 31, 2009 at 4:09 am

With a namesake and a sibling already known in their respective fields, two athletes share their experiences of being known based on their counterparts, and the struggle to establish a name of their own.

Big shoes to fill: Oping Sumalinog

Another Chris is putting on the fabled number 17 jersey this season.

Christopher Lou Sumalinog has a lot to live up to considering Chris Tiu’s long line of achievements. But more than anything, he wants to be known as a Blue Eagle in his own right–as Oping.

“When I was in first year,” Oping recalls, “I would always get nervous when Coach Norman shouts ‘Chris.’ I would go to him and it turns out he’s calling Chris Tiu.”

Asked what differentiates him from Tiu, he answers, “Marunong ako mag-kamay (I can eat using my bare hands)!”

Ateneo recruited Oping after coaches saw him play in Milo Best back in his high school years. Coach Jamike Jarin says, “We recruited Oping because we saw that he was tall for his age. Plus, all coaches want a player who’s unselfish and we saw that in Oping.”

Oping’s move to Manila was not an easy one, especially since he was only 15 years old at the time. He also had a language barrier to overcome as he didn’t know how to speak Tagalog then.

Roommate and fellow Visayan Nonoy Baclao says it was easier to adjust to his new home because he had Oping and Emman Monfort with him. “My first impression on Oping was that he’s nice and easy to get along with,” Baclao says, adding that they consider each other brothers now.

Oping admits that he sometimes feels down because he’s only given limited playing time. Still, he considers this a part of the learning experience.

And maybe he is learning. Things have been shaping up for Oping these days. He actually bagged a Gatorade ad after an impromptu VTR last year. Moreover, he’s looking forward to spending more time on the hardcourt.

Now that he’s one of the team’s elders, he says that he wants to help the younger players maximize their potentials just as his predecessors helped him.

As Jarin puts it, “This is his year.”

Family legacy: Janel Long

With her tall physique and strikingly blue eyes, one need not hear Lady Eagle Janel Long’s last name to make the connection with the Blue Eagle guard.

Even Janel’s father Jeff Long compares Kirk and her this way: the only difference between the two of them may be that Janel is a girl, and Kirk is a boy.

As a new addition to the Lady Eagles team, Janel is set to make her mark as a post player given her height, despite being a guard and a shooter for her high school, Faith Academy.

“I didn’t have a choice but to adjust, because I understand that when you’re the tallest girl, you’ll have a better chance at getting the rebounds,” she says. “So I just work extra hard and tell myself that being a point guard is long gone, [and] that [playing] post will be a good experience to love basketball even more.”

Janel says that although she began playing basketball at a young age, she also played volleyball during middle school and first to second year high school.

She admits that not being able to play basketball during her volleyball season helped her realize that she preferred basketball more. It also helped that most of her family were into the sport.

“I liked being able to run instead of staying on just one side of the court. [But] I guess a lot of it came from my dad because he played basketball. My older brother and older sister play basketball. [So] I wanted to play basketball,” she says.

The middle child among five children, Janel shares how much she values her family. In fact, when she was recruited to play for the Ateneo, her family, especially her brother Kirk, helped her make the choice.

She says, “My whole family is going to be here next year, and I couldn’t see myself living on my own in the States since the Philippines has been my home since I was one.”

With both Janel and Kirk playing for the Ateneo and even sporting the same jersey number 12, the association between the two becomes even more pronounced.

Janel admits that she is, indeed, similar to her brother. “As I was growing up, I would watch his attitude on the court. I’d watch how he talks to the referees or how he talks to his coach and I think I became like him.”

Father Jeff says, however, that Janel and Kirk have different dreams. “Janel wants to be a social worker and she wants to help kids get adopted into forever homes, from the children’s homes that we have,” he says.

“Kirk wants to be a teacher and a coach and get involved in the children’s lives. In that way, I think in that way their career paths are different,” he adds.

Basketball-wise, both the Long children are team players and are willing to do anything to win. Janel doesn’t harbor fears of endless comparison with Kirk. “So far I’m known as his little sister, [but] that doesn’t bother me because I’ve got a pretty awesome brother.”


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