JACK Danielle Animam, considered as the best woman basketball cager in the Philippines these days, is not yet done blazing a trail.
After finding success in her stints in Taiwan and in the United States, the former National University star and Gilas Pilipinas women standout is set to bring her act to Serbia after signing up with club team Radnicki Kragujevac.
“I’m just so happy and proud that I got this far. It’s so overwhelming right now and I’m just super excited,” Animam said last Monday night in an online press conference via Zoom.
“I can’t wait to go out there and play with them,” she added.
The 6-foot-5 Animam, who bagged the UAAP women’s basketball MVP plum in 2017 and won a gold with the Gilas women squad in the 30th Southeast Asian Games in Manila in 2019, thanked the people close to her as she begins a new chapter in her career.
“Every night before I go to sleep, mapapaisipna lang ako ng, ‘Wow! Grabe!’ I cannot believe that this is all happening all at once. I’m just really grateful and beyond blessed to be this far,” Animam said.
“I wouldn’t be in this position without my coach Pat (Aquino), sir Hans (Sy), sir Herson (Sy), EWP (East West Private), and my teammates in NU, also Gilas and SBP, feeling ko nasa Cloud Nine ako. Sobrangsaya lang na I’m here right now and going to Serbia to show what a Filipino can do.”
A Malolos, Bulacan native, Animam led Shih Hsin University to the University Basketball Association title, and in the US in the Atlanta Entertainment Basketball League.
Animam is hoping her overseas career would pave the way for other Filipina players to chase their dreams.
“I’m not doing this for myself but I’m doing this also for the young girls. We know that there’s not much support for women’s basketball in the Philippines,” she said.
“I’m hoping that I can inspire all athletes that even though that there is a pandemic, kahitanonghadlang, it doesn’t matter for as long as you want it.”
Animam was a key cog in the Lady Bulldogs’ historic 96-0 run that included the team’s sixth straight crown and in Gilas women’s rise in Level I of FIBA Asia.
Radnicki finished eighth in the 2020-21 season with a 7-15 card.
“She’s the face of women’s basketball right now, our ambassador in the SBP. We are proud of her achievements already,” Gilas women program director and coach Pat Aquino said.
