MANILA – Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts basketball team standout Dylan Despi has fulfilled his dream to play in Manila after committing to the University of Santo Tomas Tiger Cubs.
The Bacolod City native opted to choose to join the Tiger Cubs amid numerous enticing offers from other Manila-based schools as he believes that he will improve more as a player with UST.
“Ever since nagsimula akong maglaro ng basketball dream ko na talaga na makapaglaro sa Manila, particularly sa UAAP. So I am thankful na isa sa mga lumapit sa akin ang UST,” Despi told Panay News on Thursday.
“Actually, there are a number of schools who approached me but I chose UST kasi nakita ko na maganda ang basketball program and I also heard na iba rin magpakita ng suporta at maghal ang mga Tomasino,” he added.
The 17-year-old Despi has a decorated basketball career as a member of Thunderbolts squad, where he won a number of championships and a handful of Most Valuable Player trophies.
Recently, Despi was selected to join the RST Don Bosco Dumaguete team in the SM National Basketball Training Center National Finals, where he caught the eye of a number of Manila-based schools.
Tiger Cubs team manager Jarvis Co, for his part, said that he believes that the 6-foot-1 Despi will be a key addition to the UST crew of head coach Manu Inigo as they hope to improve their fourth place finish in the UAAP Season 85 Juniors Basketball.
“Coach Manu was really impressed when he saw Dylan’s video while playing in the NBTC,” Co said. “He will definitely have his minutes with us and we will assure that we will take care of his basketball career moving forward.”
Despi further said that impending move to the Tiger Cubs inspired him more to continue to work on his abilities as he vowed to help the squad to reach its goal in the upcoming UAAP Juniors season.
“I will definitely help the team as much as I can,” Despi said. “I will do my best to lead the team to reach its goals in UAAP Juniors basketball which is to win the championship by God’s grace.”
Despi also extended his gratitude to Bacolod Tay Tung, led by Brian Tan, Jose Montalbo, Manuel Ma, Dexter Dy, Renato Callora, Roger Montalbo and principal Philip Carpina, for playing a role in his development as a basketball player and as a person.
“They are the ones who saw me when I was still starting as a basketball player, they played a huge role in my development as a player so I am dedicating my UST team to them, I want to make them proud,” he said./PN
