Behind a lot of successful athletes is a mother who offers them unconditional love and support.
Ask the Ravenas, a family filled with successful athletes. Mozzy Ravena does most of the little things to help her children—basketball stars Kiefer and Thirdy and volleyball standout Dani.
“When the boys were playing in the UAAP, their practices usually begin as early as 5 a.m. [And] their evening sessions go as late as 10 p.m.,” she told the Inquirer, referring to former Ateneo hotshots Kiefer and Thirdy.
Mozzy Ravena (middle) makes sure she attends to the needs of all the sports personalities in her home: (from left) Ateneo volleyball standout Dani, former Ateneo star Thirdy, NLEX hotshot Kiefer and TNT coach Bong. —PHOTO COURTESY OF MOZZY RAVENA
She takes care of their needs, even if it means working around her schedule. Mozzy would often split time calling matches as a sports commentator and being there for the games of her children and husband Bong, a retired basketball star who now coaches TNT in the PBA.
And then came the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“It’s sad,” Mozzy said. “But this is also a welcome break for my body being in all of these roles.”
Except for the one role that she doesn’t stop essaying, pandemic or otherwise. Motherhood, Mozzy said, “is a 24/7 thing.”
Giving back
Gilas Pilipinas women’s assistant coach Julie Amos understands that, even if she has no kids of her own.
A member of the 1995 national team that settled for silver in the Southeast Asian Games, Amos had been around the sport for more than half of her life.
She had helmed the basketball programs of UST, UA&P, and Poveda, coaching players as young as 8 years old. She even had the chance to handle Thirdy and Kiefer when they joined basketball camps.
Julie Amos (fourth from left) with the Gilas Pilipinas women’s team. —PHOTO COURTESY OF JACK ANIMAM
Amos treats all athletes under her as her children, to the point that she once helped a basketball camper get a college scholarship.
“She passed the Bar. She’s a lawyer now. Can you imagine that?” she said with a chuckle.
“I’ve learned a lot from the sport, so for me, it’s a no-brainer to give back,” she said.
Young ‘mom’
Like Amos, Marilyn Tabareng, sports therapist of renowned mixed martial arts stable Team Lakay, fitting into the mother role may feel over the top, considering she is a year younger than her fighter cousin, Eduard Folayang.
But she never fails to dote on her athletes with motherly warmth, especially when it comes to youngsters like Islay Bomogao, a SEA Games silver medalist in muay thai, and another prospect, Jhanlo Sangiao.
“That is our generation [of fighters],” said Tabareng, who has been with the team since 2010.
And like any mother, the taekwondo blackbelter feels a different kind of kinship with the athletes she preps for competition.
“Their success is also my success,” she said.
Geraldine Bernardo “mothers” her nonprofit organization, Sport Management Council of the Philippines, with the aim of using her platform and management know-how to equip athletes, coaches, and other sports people with other life skills.
“Athletes’ welfare, up to now, remains my biggest [concern],” said the former dragon boat athlete and Philippine Sports Commission executive director. “I’ve been through [a lot of hardships], and I know what it feels like.”
As the world honors its mothers, it is clear that motherhood comes in different forms. And in sports, whatever form a mother takes, she always has her athlete’s back.