FCM One-on-One presents:
Mr. Kelvin Dela Pena, Former Professional Basketball Player (PBA, PBL), Coach and Founder of Rise Up Hoops Basketball
PART I:
FCM: Tell us about you growing up?
KDP: Growing up, I was very fortunate. Very lucky to have amazing parents. Very supportive. Very strict as we all know how Filipino parents are.
Very lucky to be involved in basketball at an early age.
My dad played pro, and my brother was playing at a high-level basketball. So I was born with basketball influence around me.
When I was ten years old, we moved here to Canada.
I played competitively at a very young age. I played in high school, I played basketball Alberta, basketball selects and in numerous clubs in Calgary.
Through basketball Alberta, I traveled all around North America, and even in Japan.
So I was submerged to basketball at a very young age. I’m very fortunate to have experienced that type of level of competitiveness.
FCM: How big of an influence was your dad to your basketball career?
KDP: Huge. Growing up when you watched your dad play, you watched how people would approach him, how people would shake his hands, and people would give him so much respect because he played in PBA (Philippine Basketball Association).
Then at the same time, you know that you live with this guy and that people respects him a lot and he is well known in the Philippines. I wanted that for myself.
As a child, you look up to your dad and say I want to be like my dad too.
My dad helped me a lot in my maturity. He helped me how to approach the game. He was always there beside me, watching game tapes and studying the game step-by-step with me.
FCM: So, your dad was very passionate about basketball.
KDP: Oh yes. My dad and I would watch my game tapes for hours and hours. We would rewind it, go back, and then watch it again.
It’s funny because when I played bad, he would be quiet. When I played good, that’s when he was the hardest on me.
You know how you see parents go crazy on the bleachers when they watch their kids play? My dad would just be in the background watching the game. He was the number one factor for me in my maturation of basketball and understanding of the game.
He was such a high-level IQ basketball player, and he just transferred that to me. And my dad was tough. He grew up in the 70’s and 80’s when it was “no blood, no foul.”
Unfortunately, he got injured so he had to end his career, but he taught me toughness. He taught me pretty much everything.
FCM: Sounds like you and your dad are very close.
KDP: Very close. He’s my best friend.
When I wanted to play basketball, I’d ask my dad, and he’d be there for me.
When my parents would ask me to hang out, I’d cancel my plans with my friends just to hang out with them. We shared that bond in basketball. I wanted to be the best. And he wanted that for me. I had the passion at a very young age, and he saw that, and he took care of it.
So my dad is my everything. He’s my mentor and my best friend. And my mom too. My mom was strict on me.
When I coach kids now, I’m tough on the kids. That doesn’t come from nowhere. It came from my mom.
FCM: So your mom was also a big influence.
KDP: She has a very big influence. The toughness, paying attention to details – it was my mom.
So it was a mixture of things. My dad is about the love of the game. Very spiritual about it. He’s about approaching the game the right way and let the game come to you.
My mom was like, “You got to pay attention to details.” She’s all about paying attention to the little things to make the big things come to you.
So I was very lucky. My mom didn’t know basketball like my dad, but she understood the development of a human being. And that was huge, especially for a kid like me that had dreams and aspirations.
So both of them were a big influence on me. They have an enormous impact on my development as a human being.
FCM: At a very young age, you had great support from your parents.
KDP: I think I knew I was going to play pro since I was four years old. I know it in my heart. I don’t know how I was going to do it, but I knew.
When my parents saw this, they supported it. And thank God they did.
In my first weeks in playing in the Philippines, my parents were always talking to me on the phone. There were times when I’d cry or freak out on the phone and say, “I want to go home. I give up. I can’t do this.” As much as my mom wanted me to be close and be at home, she’d say “No, stay there, this is good for you. Follow your dreams.”
They just supported me. Not just financially because when you’re young you don’t have a job and you’re not in PBA yet. Financially and emotionally they supported me. They were always there for me.
Before I thought they were always on to me. Very “makulit.” But now looking back, you appreciate all those things. I wouldn’t have made it in those years without my parents. And still, I am nobody without my parents.
My parents are my number one. Whatever they did, they put me and my brother first.
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