Jack Animam set to play for French club in top basketball league

FILE – Jack Animam during the 3×3 basketball event in the 30th Southeast Asian Games. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–Jack Danielle Animam is set to play in France, resuscitating her promising overseas basketball career hampered by a knee injury.

The poster girl for the country’s women’s basketball scene was supposed to banner the Manila Hustle 3×3, an invitational club tournament featuring six local and six more visiting crews, but an invite from Toulouse Métropole Basket (TMB), the home team of the southern French city.

Peachy Medina, the tournament’s director and owner of the two clubs competing in the showcase, was far from bothered with the absence of Animam, who was supposed to be one of the event’s biggest draws.

“I really appreciate her. She headlined the campaign when we introduced this league. But we cannot not be happy for her,” Medina said of the 24-year-old forward, who hails from Bulacan.

“She’s the poster girl of what this league could lead to the development of more Jack Animams.”

According to a person familiar with the situation, Animam is scheduled to leave for France on Friday night.

TMB is the home team of Toulouse in the Ligue Féminine de Basketball, the top women’s league in the country. The club is currently 11th in the ongoing tournament.

Animam was supposed to backstop Lady Macbeth Riots in her first tour of duty since an MCL and ACL tear, which is coached by her longtime mentor and Gilas Pilipinas’ womens program director Pat Aquino.

With the Riots, Animam would’ve reunited with Gilas teammates Janine Pontejos, Khate Castillo, and Trina Guytingco.

After a storied career in college that included a student-athlete import stint in Taiwan, Animam went on to pursue the WNBA dream and trained in the United States. She landed a gig with Radnicki Kraguievac in Serbia before going down with that knee problem that shelved her for over a year.