La Sallians are as proud as ever of their alma matter, thanks to the De La Salle Green Archers who came home with the gold in yesterdays’s heart stopping game against the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles. The last game of the season ended with a final score of 79-72.
Looking back, Jeron Teng — who has been named the Finals MVP of UAAP Season 79’s men’s basketball championships — was given a PeopleAsia Men Who Matter award in 2014 alongside his brother Jeric who was then playing for the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers.
Read about how the legendary basketball brothers keep their heads in the game, while still maintaining a lot of heart and soul off the court in this feature.
(Brothers Jeric and Jeron Teng)
By GREGGY V. VERA CRUZ
The legacy continues
It is a given that Jeric and Jeron Teng’s father Alvin is a former player for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) who won multiple titles for the San Miguel Beermen. In their coveted Grand Slam, the “Robocop” laid the foundation as an enforcer of the team, as the Beermen garnered a whopping sum of nine championships, the most recent being their win during the 1994 All-Filipino Conference.
Small wonder that the Teng sons followed in the footsteps, going even by leaps and bounds (literally) of their famous father. It was inevitable; short of calling them basketball scions who are slowly but surely establishing a name for themselves by carving their respective niches in the league.
The brothers hasten to add, however, that they were not at all pressured to tread on the same path as their dad. It was a mutual decision on their part to do so; genetics and their memorable childhood background were instrumental in making them who they are now.
“I used to watch my dad’s games while growing up. Jeric and I were really into basketball ever since; we had our own family court where we could practice and shoot hoops a lot. Our dad never told us what to do. We just pursued what we both wanted. My dad just motivated us to reach our goals,” recalls Jeron.
(UAAP Season 79’s men’s basketball Finals MVP Jeron Teng)
Heroes and heartthrobs
With their current stature in the collegiate and professional basketball league, our hardcourt heartthrobs do most certainly have their sizeable share of fans and followers, both off- and online. Having instilled in them the proper values and priorities, however, the Tengs are not to rest on their laurels and remain to be the levelheaded and approachable brothers that they really are.
“Never give up on your dreams. If you really want and love basketball, then basketball will love you back. You just have to make sacrifices for it and eventually, good things will come to you. Basketball is not a smooth ride, either. You go through a series of ups and downs. Despite the obstacles, you just have to keep your hopes up,” the hardcourt looker Jeron affirms.
Jeric rejoins his brother’s statements by stressing on focus and determination to achieve your aspirations. “If you really love basketball, you would do everything. In the same manner, if you really love something, you would resort to all means just to attain it. But first of all, you have to know your priorities and be disciplined and hard working.”
Though retirement from dunking baskets is certainly not on their minds, the Tengs are not about (just yet) to abandon the hardcourt scene without leaving their respective marks on their well-loved profession.
“I want to be known as someone who gives his all in every game he played, as someone who is very passionate in his craft. I also want to be approachable to the people who continuously support me, and to be able to give back to them what they gave me,” Jeric concludes with an endearing smile, as he fits into his Hugo Boss formal ensemble for the next pictorial peg.
Jeron, meanwhile, would like to divert from the standard mold of a basketball player as simply being a jock or student who occasionally cuts classes, with sports simply and predominantly occupying his mind. “I grew up in a family that values education. That is why I would also want to be known as a basketball player who is a role model; someone who prioritizes his studies and his family,” ends Jeron with a flash of his pearly whites and that distinctive masculine charm.
With a good head above their broad shoulders, as their hands are kept busy dribbling balls and shooting hoops, our hardcourt heroes are worth admiring and emulating. Jeric and Jeron Teng, indeed, are a certified dynamic duo, on and off the court.
As the UAAP battlecry exclaims, “Greatness never ends!”
(Photography by MAU MAURICIO of AT EAST JED ROOT | The original article containing these excerpts was first published in PeopleAsia‘s special Men Who Matter June-July 2014 issue)
