Palarong Pambansa gem rises to the top

Photo by: Reuben Terrado

PALARONG Pambansa product Afril Bernardino is fast becoming one of the best women’s basketball players in the country.

Proving to be a vital cog to the Philippine national women’s team at a young age, the National University standout recently won the MVP award and was named part of the Mythical Five in the Seaba Championship for Women in Melacca, Malaysia.

The 20-year-old Bernardino is a proud product of the Palarong Pambansa, having competed in 2011 in Dapitan City, where she was discovered by NU assistant coach Julie Amos.

The 5-foot-8 Bernardino actually took part in two events that year—track and field and basketball—but it was in basketball where she made her mark while playing for Region IV-B (Calabarzon).

After that Palarong Pambansa stint, Bernardino was immediately recruited by the Lady Bulldogs.

“Nag-compete din po ako sa long jump at high jump, tapos nakita ako ni coach Julie, na-discover po niya ako. Pag-uwi ko sa Manila, pumunta na po ako sa NU para mag-basketball,” said Bernardino.

The discovery of Bernardino proved to be valuable not only for the Lady Bulldogs but also for the national team. The Cainta native has been named UAAP MVP in the past two seasons and in those occasions, the Lady Bulldogs also won two crowns in women’s basketball.

It didn’t take long for Bernardino to also become part of the national team as Perlas Pilipinas coach Patrick Aquino, who is also at the helm of NU, picked her to become part of the Philippine team in 2015 where she competed in the Seaba Championship and the Southeast Asian Games.

This year, Bernardino’s efforts finally led to a title for Perlas Pilipinas as they dominated the round-robin tournament of the Seaba Championship for Women by winning all six games, including a masterful 72-52 win over Thailand in their final game.

Bernardino, who averaged 10.8 points and 7.4 rebounds during the competition, said the last thing in her mind was winning the MVP in the Seaba competition.

“Hindi ko naisip na may MVP award. Naglalaro lang ako for the country. Thankful na lang po ako kay Lord na binigay niya ‘yung award. Thankful din po ako sa buong team at sa mga managers na nabigay ng support sa akin,” Bernardino said.

Now that she helped win a gold for the country, Bernardino now hopes to bring home another title for her school as the Lady Bulldogs gun for their third straight women’s basketball title.

“’Yun po ang goal namin na mag-champion,” Bernardino said.