By Waylon Galvez
Fil-Am Vanessa De Jesus of Duke University said she will be to play for Gilas Pilipinas women’s national team if the opportunity arises.
An incoming freshman with the Blue Devils, De Jesus has been in constant communications with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) through women’s head coach Pat Aquino.
“I’m interested in playing for the Philippines. I’m very excited about that,” said the California-born De Jesus during a virtual press conference with the Philippine media Thursday.
“I’m very excited about that. “I think it’s amazing just how much all of you guys just know about basketball because it means so much to me. All my family is from there, so having support back home I should say, is really nice.”
A product of the Sierra Canyon Girls’ basketball program, De Jesus – whose parents are both Filipinos – will play for Duke in this season of the US NCAA. It has produced many WNBA players, including Tricia Liston of 2015 champion Minnesota Lynx and Alena Beard of 2016 winner Los Angeles Sparks.
Before joining Duke, De Jesus was an All-CIF Open Division 1st team as a high school player and was the Gold Coast League MVP, as well as Southern Section Co-Player of the Year in 2019.
Aquino, who also joined the virtual presser with assistant coach and former Philippine Team member Julie Amos, Mark Solano of the SBP and Duke Athletics External Operations senior associate director of communications Lindy Brown, said De Jesus would be a great addition to Gilas.
“Maganda ang opportunity for her to represent us in international tournaments and she is very much welcome in the Gilas women’s team,” said Aquino, who has steered the women’s national team to gold medal wins in the 5-on-5 and 3×3 events in last year’s Southeast Asian Games here.
As for FIBA-sanctioned tournaments, the 18-year-old De Jesus is no longer eligible to play because of a 16-year-old eligibility rule that requires a player to prove his/her legal nationality through a passport of at least three years validity acquired before turning at age 16.
Aquino said that De Jesus could play as naturalized in FIBA events.
But in tournaments like the FIBA 3×3 competitions, the SEA Games, Asian Games and the Jones Cup, the 5-foot-8 De Jesus can still be part of the national team as a local player.
De Jesus has been with Duke since August 2.
In the past two weeks, she has joined the team’s practice sessions under head coach Kara Lawson, also a former WNBA champion player and member of the US women’s team that bagged the gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
