Meet Lee and Gabi, the badass daughters of PBA vet Cris Bade

While Gabi followed dad's footsteps, Lee heeded the call of combat
Jun 2, 2022
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PHOTO: Left: Lee Bade on IG | Middle: Cris Bade | Right: Gabi Bade on IG

WHILE MANY children don't take up the mantles of their parents, it admittedly didn't take much for ex-PBA veteran Cris Bade to push his daughters into sports.

All he had to do was give a little intro, and the rest was history.

Leeana, 26, is currently competing in the ring as an amateur muay thai fighter in the States, while Gabi, 25, is already familiar to basketball fans as she's just capped off a gold-medal run in the 31st Southeast Asian Games with the Gilas Pilipinas Women's team.

All year round, Lee, a member of club Smash Fighter, joins competitions such as the World Games, West Coast Elite, and other Stateside bouts.

Meanwhile, Gabi has some overseas tours of duties under her belt, with the most recent one being in Cyprus from 2021 to early 2022.

As hectic as all that sounds, this has always been how it was inside their nurturing and sports-loving home of the Bades.

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    Raised in California... and on basketball, thanks to Cris Bade

    Both sisters were raised in California, and it was, naturally, their dad — a former PBA and MBA player — who introduced them to basketball.

    "We were like 6 [and] year olds when our dad taught us to play," Lee told Spin.ph. "And since then, we just played ball our whole lives."

    Gabi added: "We were introduced to other sports too but it always comes back to playing basketball. Well, for me."

    From elementary all the way to college, both of them played hoops as their main sport, juggling varsity teams alongside their studies.

    They were also teammates in several occasions, and won a State Championship together in Sacramento in 2014.

    But while Gabi stuck with hoops, Lee found another calling.

    Heeding the call of combat

    "Played ball for 12 years then I realized I wanted something else, I wasn't into it as I thought I was, then three and a half years ago, I shifted into combat sports," Lee shared.

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    She first tried boxing, then kickboxing, before finally ending up with muay thai, which she enjoyed most.

    "It started out as a hobby, [then] turned into a passion, and I just knew I really wanna do it professionally," she said. "I was intrigued by it, that you have a whole team to prepare you... but during the fight, the result will be on your hands alone, it's just you once you step in that ring."

    In her young career, she's won three amateur championship belts, and has also represented the country in international tourneys.

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    Off the ring, she's a research coordinator, and more importantly, a solid support system for her sister, Gabi.

    Unstoppa-BALL

    After graduating from the Sacramento State, Gabi was quick to take her talents to the pros, signing with the ENAD WBC, a club that competes in Cyprus Women's Basketball Division A.

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    For the 5-foot-8 guard, injury was her worst enemy, but her biggest teacher.

    "Playing my whole life, I had dislocated my shoulder, had injuries all over my body, including an ACL which [forced] me [to] pause for a couple months, but got me back stronger. These adversities never stopped me from playing the game," she said.

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    And this drive brought her to playing pro overseas — and then, to follow in her dad's footsteps, who also played for the national team in the SEA Games back in 1993.

    "He was always my idol. More of like my guide growing up playing basketball," she bared. "Playing for the national team is an honor. Not a lot of girls get the opportunity to play for this team.”

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    Badass? How about... Bade-ass

    In the environment they grew up in, both parents were inclined to sports. (Their mom did cheerleading and triathlon. But Lee and Gabi also picked up another lesson beyond the game: Making sure they got each other's backs.

    "Our parents' support are the biggest catalysts on why we're so successful on the sports we're doing right now," Lee said. "We're very proud and supportive of one another. On the dinner table, a lot of it is just us celebrating us, and what we've gone through the past weeks."

    And there never was a sign of jealousy or envy from either sibling, despite their very competitive nature.

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    "When we were younger, we would fight a lot, throw hands at each other. It's how competitive we are. But now, we're just very grateful for one another. There's no 'I'm better than you' cause our parents never thought that," Gabi continued.

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    PHOTO: Left: Lee Bade on IG | Middle: Cris Bade | Right: Gabi Bade on IG
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