MBA 1998 Champion Pampanga Tribute - Rudolfo 'Ompong' Segura

Not long ago, Rodolfo Segura watched his brothers playing backyard basketball near his home on Looban Street, Paco, and decided that the sport was definitely not for him: too rough. But then Looban was not exactly a street of softies, so Ompong mustered enough guts to play a game or two. Today Ompong the Toyota Comet still finds basketball bruising, but he doesn't mind it much any more. Breaking a fall, dodging an elbow, parry- ing a knee or surviving in the keyhole area and under the boards are things he has learn- ed to take in stride.And he has stood up pretty well against the constant pound- ing and jarring on the He hasn't been stitched up yet, fractured, or seriously sprained.court. Playing unscathed does not catapult one to cage stardom. Basketball is not a game for softies. Ompong shines as an exceptional forward. His as- sets: speed for fastbreaks, a flat-trajectory push shot from middle distance, a turnaround, slow-motion layup, and spring for rebounding. Spartan keeps him in peak form. Once in excellent shape, Ompong could last the whole 40 minutes, stopping only to take sips of water from a half-filled cup. Natural talent and condi- tioning blended beautifully for Ompong during the MICAA title play-offs. He averaged 7.3 points for the three games, was 75% accurate from the cha rity lane, and plucked an ave. rage of two rebounds a game. Not bad for a MICAA rookie, Ompong's first sallies as a cager were far from spectacu lar. Playing in the Adamson University intramurals, he was just another scrawny teen-ager moving up from the neigh- borhood "liga." He was 16 when he scored 24 points du- ring Adamson's opening game with University of Manila in the AAU. 

When the Adamson Falcons rejoined the UAAP, Ompong was one of the top guns. He gives credit to Falcon Coach Nicanor Jorge "for teaching me the rudiments of the game." conditioning also Teamwork and Coach Fely Fajardo were the two reasons, explains Ompong, behind the RP Youth team's bulldozing of the opposition during the Asian Youth Basketball championships at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum last year. His scoring average for the nine games of that se- ries was 14.1. In the Filipinos second game against the heavy South Koreans, the Falcon for- ward blasted away with a re- cord 28 points. Ompong did not go straight to the Toyota fold. He had been a reserve player for Yu- tivo and played for Seven Up during the scandal-riddled All- Filipino MICAA last December. He was wooed by Toyota, YCO and Concepcion. He chose to wear the Comet's co- lor-fancy jersey. 

He says he's 6-2%, weighs 155 pounds, needs 10 more pounds to make his presence felt in undergoal skirmishes. He's struggling with his studies "because you can't play bas ketball forever." True, espe cially when it gets that rough. FORT YERRO