After a Year of Waiting, Mac Mac Alfanta Treats NU Pressure as a Privilege

Before the arenas, the NU jersey, and the expectations that now come with being one of the team’s young players, Mac Mac Alfanta learned basketball somewhere much simpler: back home in the province, where his father would take him out and teach him the basics of the game.

His father played basketball too, and as a child, Alfanta followed him around the court. His father would make him run and teach him the fundamentals, giving him his first introduction to the sport that would eventually become much more than a childhood pastime. 

There was another reason Alfanta wanted to keep playing. His family did not have much growing up, and he watched his father work hard to provide for them, taking whatever small opportunities he could find to make ends meet. Basketball became one of the things that gave Alfanta something to look toward. 

“Na-inspire ako maglaro noon is yun nga, kasi nabubuhay niya yung pamilya namin dati. So, ngayon, yun ginagawa ako.” 

From Province Courts to the NU Bullpups

What began with his father eventually carried Alfanta far beyond his hometown. After the pandemic, an opportunity came through people who knew he was playing, eventually connecting him with NU’s coaching staff. At the time, much of the process happened through Zoom, with training gradually leading him toward Manila and the NU Bullpups.

From there, the path became more defined.

Alfanta developed into one of NU’s standout juniors and later earned Season MVP honors with Batang Abra in the Junior MPBL 21U division. The experiences gave him more than awards or a résumé. They gave him a way of understanding what it meant to improve, especially when that improvement sometimes came through difficult moments.

Every criticism became something he could use.

“Especially pag ako, pag nagkakamali ako or what, parang tinitake ko siya as a lesson para sa’kin. Wala sa’kin kung sisigawan ako, kung anong sabihin sa’kin. Basta yung message, yung message na binigay sa’kin is ito. Take all ng positive.”

A Year Away From the Lineup

That mindset became especially important when his own path at NU took an unexpected turn.

Alfanta spent a year without being lined up, leaving him away from the arena and the regular rhythm of playing alongside his teammates. It could have easily become a frustrating period, especially for someone who had spent most of his life playing basketball.

Instead, he used the time to work on the smaller parts of his game.

The coaching staff guided him through scouting and preparation, giving him another way to remain involved with basketball even when he could not contribute on the court in the way he wanted. He also continued playing with Batang Abra under Coach Dennis Miranda, training between Abra and NU when opportunities allowed.

There was no need for Alfanta to force the year into something it was not.

He simply waited.

“Hindi ko pinressure yung sarili ko. Talagang, hinintay ko talaga yung oras ko.”

That patience has shaped how he views his return. Even though he is officially a rookie now, Alfanta does not necessarily see himself as someone starting completely from zero. The year away from the lineup became another part of his development, another season of learning the things that do not always show up in a box score.

Pressure as a Privilege

Now, the waiting is over.

With NU head coach Jeff Napa looking to him to take on a bigger role following the departure of former NU player Jake Figueroa, Alfanta has stepped into a different kind of challenge. He is no longer simply the young player trying to establish himself. He is now being trusted with responsibility.

And with that responsibility comes pressure.

“Yung pressure is a privilege,” his teammates told him.

Alfanta has chosen to take those words seriously. Rather than treating the expectations as something he needs to escape, he sees them as proof that his coaches and teammates believe he can handle the role.

He leans on the trust of Coach Jeff, someone he has already spent years working with, and tries to follow what his coach asks of him instead of getting caught up in the weight of the expectations.

The pressure, after all, is not going anywhere.

So Alfanta has found another way to deal with it: enjoy the moment.

“Talagang mindset ko talaga. Sabi ko, mag-e-enjoy ako,” he said.

It sounds simple, but for Alfanta, that mindset carries something deeper. Basketball has been part of his life for as long as he can remember, yet reaching this point was never guaranteed. The struggles, the year away from the lineup, and the long wait for his opportunity all led him here.

“Isa sa dream ko ‘to,” he said.

That dream is also something he knows other young players share. There are kids who want to reach the same arena, wear the same jersey, and find themselves in the position he is in now.

For Alfanta, the best way to honor that opportunity is not to let the pressure consume him.

It is to play.

Life Away From the Court

Away from the court, Alfanta’s world is much quieter. He spends most of his time in the dorm, and when he gets the chance to step away from basketball, his usual routine with his teammates is hardly complicated. Billiards is one of their go-to activities, whether they are playing casually or spending time together before a game.

Team dinners are another part of the routine. They eat, talk, and meet together at the dorm, sometimes turning the downtime into simple moments of bonding through conversations and singing.

There is no long list of hobbies waiting outside basketball. No other sport competes for his attention.

For someone whose life has revolved around the game for so long, perhaps that makes sense.

Even his favorite movie is something he remembers more for the familiarity of it than for some elaborate lesson. Alfanta repeatedly watches Mistah,the Robin Padilla war film set against the conflict in Mindanao, a movie he grew up watching and continues to return to.

His life, much like his basketball journey, remains grounded in the things he has known for a long time.

His father’s example. His hometown. The teammates who grew alongside him. The coaches who pushed him. The year he spent waiting. All of them brought him to the same place. 

Now, Alfanta finally gets to play the role he has been preparing for. There will be expectations. There will be mistakes. There will be moments when the pressure feels heavier than he expected.

But he has already spent a year learning how to wait for his chance. Now that it has arrived, he is choosing to enjoy it.