HE MIGHT be living a thousand miles away from the Philippines, but Malaysia's top freestyle baller is, without a doubt, a Filipino at heart.
Growing up in Kuala Lumpur, Scalia Nethanial didn't have the friendly neighborhood barangay courts as a playground. Instead, he had football fields and netted courts.
Even so, you could rarely find him without a basketball in his hand.
He learned to make the best of it, trying to find a hoop wherever he could. Then, he found out he could combine love for basketball with his innate dancing bones, and eventually discovered a performance art that was a combination of two: freestyle basketball.
"Unlike in the PH, all I have is a ball, a hard court, and some dancing skills," Nethanial told SPIN Life.

Growing up in Malaysia, Scalia Nethanial sets his heart to hoops
Nethanial is born of a Filipino mom, a native of Basista, Pangasinan, but was born and raised in Malaysia.
Our Southeast Asian neighbor is far from a basketball country, but he grew up watching the sport, and is a big NBA fan.
"I play basketball, I'm a guard, it's just that I'm living in a country where it's not that popular. But I've always kept my interest on it, often playing with my ball at parks," he said.
One day, he was randomly spinning the ball, doing fancy dribbling when he saw mesmerized eyes watching him.
"I saw people stop, watched me do it, I was just mimicking what I watch on the internet, streetball competitions," he shared. "After then, the craft kind of grew into something more."
He decided to take his craft seriously when he was at age 13, joining competitions around the country, before signing up for international tilts.
"I would wake up 4 a.m., dribble around the neighborhood, and just one day, my skills have become pretty smooth," he said.
Since then, he has performed around the continent: In India, Singapore, Cambodia. In the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, he was even one of the hype performers of the biannual meet.
He's won medals and awards from different freestyle competitions and has become among Malaysia's top performers.
Owing his love for ball to his basketball-loving Filipino roots, Nethanial wears Pinoy colors and uses Filipino rap music on his performances.
He often visits the Philippines, too, but has yet to fly again due to travel restrictions over the pandemic.
But even distance won't stop him from reconnecting.
Earlier this year, the 26-year-old organized an online talent competition in Basista, with cash, and sneakers as prizes.
"The whole town started talking about. It was heartwarming. The competition was free, I just opened a Facebook group where people can upload entries," he said.
Nethanial always wanted to strengthen the art of freestyle basketball in the Philippines and to let kids know that there's another way to express your love for the game outside of 5v5 or 3x3.
"It's still no different from basketball. it's just another way to play. It's performance art filled with highlights and Filipinos, for sure, would love it. As for me, I was just an ordinary Filipino kid in Malaysia, who made the most out of holding a ball in his hand," he said.
"I want the young kids to go out there with an open mind, learn from the existing things, and be able to create something they can call their own," he added.
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