Career interrupted: Arvie Bringas
applies for the PBA Draft
by rick olivares
Among the hopefuls that submitted
their application for the upcoming PBA Draft is curious name… Arvie Bringas.
Didn’t he apply for the draft
before? A lot of his contemporaries went to the draft or made it? What happened
to one of the most talented and ballyhooed players to come out of the high
school ranks in the last 10 years and who sort of disappeared after his college
career?
A lot of questions. Before we
answer that, we have to look to where Arvie is now. The 6’5” cager and second
of four children is back in his native Orani, Bataan. Back home with his
family. There he helps the family business which is a meat dealership at the
market. He raises cows and dogs – “buhay probinsya,” he simply describes.
Now 27 years old, he has been
egged by older brother Mark, who plays for Cignal in the D-League and is on the
Meralco Bolts’ reserve team, as well as friends and family to make another go
at an aborted basketball career.
Coming out of high school where
he was a part of three-champion San Sebastian Staglets teams, he looked to go
to Ateneo but was pilfered away by La Salle where much to everyone’s surprise
he left after a year. Arvie transferred to Far Eastern University where he
teamed up with older brother Mark to give the Tamaraws a fearsome frontline.
Except they ran into the Greg Slaughter-led Ateneo Blue Eagles.
After his days in FEU, he played
in the D-League for Big Chill and tried out for Mighty Sports and Hapee.
However, a knee injury derailed whatever chances he had. Hugely disappointed
and his morale in tatters, Bringas returned home.
It is in Orani where he oft
retreated when Arvie needed to clear his mind. Former high school teammate Ryan
Buenafe said that Arvie always found solace in raising animals. Pigeons are
something he found peaceful and relaxing.
He regrets the poor decisions he
has made through the years. In some ways, he looks at the difficulties he’s
faced as a form of karma. “Nagkulang ako sa focus and decision,” he reflected.
In the vernacular, his disappointment was vivid: “I didn’t expect to lose the
opportunities. I took things for granted.”
Not a day goes by where he is
reminded of the game he grew up loving. If it isn’t on television, it’s online
and on social media. And there is always the nagging reminder when people spot
him at the market or in and around Orani. They see his height then recognize
him. “Didn’t you play for San Sebastian/La Salle/FEU?” they ask. Not
necessarily in that order. Humbled by everything that has happened, Arvie
smiles and takes things in stride. He feels an equal amount of hurt and
disappointment but he never lets on those feelings. No excuses. That was then
and this is now.
Whatever the decisions he made,
his family back in Bataan was there to pick him up. “Malaki ang naitulong ng
pamilya ko sa akin,” he said.
It was family and a small circle
of tight and close friends who pushed him to give that pro-basketball dream one
more try. Arvie knows it is more difficult now as he fell out of the spotlight
and he’s up against a lot of talented youngsters looking to book one of the few
slots available in the pros.
“Sa ngayon, naghahanda ako.
Nagpapakundisyon. Jogging and gym at least three hours a day. Tapos laro,” he
bared of his daily regimen.
“I hope to get a chance to show
what I can do,” he said. He knows that coaches and basketball scouts and
analysts will try to compare what he is now to what he had back then.
“At least may chance,” Arvie
summed up. And sometimes, that is all one can ever ask when pursuing one’s
dreams. Even if it comes years too late.
