Rivero goes straight to nat’l team practice after long flight

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Not even a grueling flight could keep Ricci Rivero from missing national team practice.

Rivero, the youngest member on the 14-man pool, still showed up in training on Monday night despite coming off a 17-hour flight from Serbia.

The 20-year-old Rivero arrived late after his flight got delayed and having to pass through the heavy traffic along EDSA but the important thing for the former De La Salle star is making it to training.

“It’s one step closer to reaching my goals. It’s a dream to represent the country so I had to leave my things and go straight here. It’s not always that you get a chance to represent your country and I don’t want to lose this opportunity,” Rivero said in Filipino.

Rivero was part of the University of the Philippines’ trip to Serbia where the Fighting Maroons held training camp as part of their buildup for the coming UAAP season.

Rivero and Kobe Paras were the only Gilas cadets named in the pool released on Sunday.