Raphael Pilapil Trinidad

The Philippines is naturally surrounded by the sea that rare will it be for the citizens not to be at home with water. Majority take advantage of nature’s bounty by making the sea their main source of living. Some country brought advantage to the highest level when it flattened some mountain somewhere in Zambales and magically transferred it to a remote area on our territorial waters farther out west.

Then, the majestic Philippine eagle is left to helplessly flap its wings against the mighty fire-breathing dragon of China and just whimper with the bullying, with sporadic grandstanding in-between, in the guise of protesting to the intrusion.

Because the seas surround us, the country is very suitable for aquatic sports and young people had shown their abilities and adaptabilities in different individual and team events. In particular, wake boarding. The sport has the athlete gliding over water on a wide, short board doing stunts while being pulled by a rope on a motorboat or in some cases, hydraulics.

One such athlete is a 17-year Cebuano who learned the extreme sport at Papa Kit’s Wakeboard Park in Liloan while he was still 12-years old. Persistence and dedication paid off for Raphael Pilapil Trinidad that when he was 14-years old, he became the 2015 National Open Champion during the 9th Philippine Cable Wakeboarding Championships held at CamSur Watersports Complex.

In May 2016, he again won the Nationals held at the same venue.  That same year in October, Raph competed against the best wakeboarders the world can offer for the WWA World Championships where he finished third in the Pro Men’s Wakeboard.

2017 was also a good year for Raph for in the two tournaments he competed at CamSur, he was champion during the Nationals and a semi-finalist during the Worlds.  November came and he competed in Thailand for the Worlds and was a semi-finalist.

2019 started on a good note for this young wakeboarder.  Just last month, Raph again bested the competition by winning the Nationals held at Deca Wake Park at Clark, Pampanga.  Several days later, he represented the country to the 2019 IWWF Cable Wake Park World Championships held at Pampa Wake Park at Buenos Aires, Argentina.

From February 14 to 23, Raph competed in the U-19 Junior Men’s Wakeboard and finished 5th.  Moving up to the Pro Men’s Wakeboard where the action is more intense, he bagged silver.  He said bringing home the silver medal for the country was a dream come true.

The dusky, good looking Raph probably put his Valentines’ Day plans on hold during the tournament.  According to his grandfather Amador Pilapil, Jr. who makes it a point to be at his apo’s competitions be it foreign or domestic, the kid has legions of female followers.  Hala ka Dong, pagka ha-it diay nimo.  Yup, he has good genes as his paternal grandfather belongs to the prominent Pilapil clan of Liloan.  That explains why his dad Reymund fell for his petite and pretty mom Jennifer.

Raph’s family resides at Nuvali in Canlubang, Laguna and they spend their time here in Cebu during vacations.  He’s Grade 11 at Caritas Don Bosco School, Canlubang and with the way Salesians handle their students, Raph can very well manage school and sports.

With 56 sports on the program for the 2019 SEA Games, the 30th edition will enter the record books as having the highest number of events and the first edition to include e-sports.   We will be hosting the games this coming November 30 to December 11 with Manila, Subic, Clark, Batangas, Laguna and Tagaytay as event venues.  Wakeboarding is one of the Games’ events and with Raph’s familiarity of the course, the support of his family and countrymen, and not to be forgotten the shrieks from his admirers, a podium finish is a very big possibility.

The land of rosquillos and masi had produced individuals who brought pride and glory to the town by carrying the colors of the country to international competitions.  Individuals like musician Dennis Sugarol and players like the Jao Twins and the Taneo brothers of volleyball, Dodie Ramas, Apet Jao and Paul Desiderio of basketball and now, Raph Trinidad.

With our house a spitting distance from the shore, I missed the idea of using my mom’s ironing board and let one of the abundant pump boat’s sunbathing on the beach pull me out to sea and challenge the amihan.  I could have pioneered the sport, and maybe could have caught my mom’s uling-fed flat iron smack on the back of my head.

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