La Salle’s Jcee Macalalag is Making the Days Count

Jcee Macalalag’s day does not really end when basketball practice does.

During the season, his classes can run until 12:30 in the afternoon before he heads back to the dorm for lunch. 

By 2:30, he is already in the weight room, and at 4:00, he is back on the court for training. 

Practice can finish around six or seven in the evening, but his day still has one more part left: schoolwork.

That has been his routine throughout his time at La Salle. Balancing basketball and academics has meant learning how to manage his time, set his priorities, and accept that sometimes one responsibility has to fit around another.

“Time management lang talaga and setting my priorities,” Jcee shares with ALL-STAR.

His schedule is already demanding enough, but it becomes more complicated when school requirements overlap with basketball. 

There have been moments when he has had to attend thesis meetings during practice, creating situations where he has to move between his responsibilities as a student and as an athlete as both take place at the same time.

The coaching staff has given him and his teammates room to handle those moments. They understand that basketball is only one part of their college experience, and he has learned that being a student-athlete means knowing when academics need to come first.

His choice of degree was also shaped by that reality

Jcee initially wanted to take up electrical engineering. His interest in the field started early, mainly because of his love for mathematics and his father’s career.

“Ever since naman nung bata ako, I love math kasi. And also, my dad, engineer siya. So, siguro sa kanya ko nakuha yung thought of yung pagiging engineer,” Jcee shared.

But becoming a student-athlete also meant thinking about what could realistically fit into his schedule. La Salle eventually advised him to take business management because engineering would be more difficult to balance with basketball. He followed that path, although the interest in engineering never completely went away.

The adjustment did not stop there. His schedule has always been different from most of his classmates, which makes it harder for him to build the same connections that other students have with their blockmates.

“Sometimes I don’t even know my classmates,” he said.

His current general education class is one example. Many of his classmates are freshmen, while he is already in his final year. He finds himself working with students who are only beginning their college experience while he is preparing to finish his.

Even with that difference, academics remained something he wanted to take seriously.

Making the Dean’s List became one of his proudest achievements because it showed him that he could keep his studies at a high level while still handling the demands of basketball.

“Hindi naman lahat ng athletes, they take their studies seriously. So for me, bonus na lang talaga yung Dean’s List.”

Some days are heavier on basketball, while others require more attention to academics, but both remain part of the same life.

Now, that chapter is slowly coming to an end

Jcee is in his final term at La Salle and his final playing year with the Green and White. After years of going from class to the dorm, from the dorm to weights, and from weights to practice, he is beginning to realize that the routine he has grown accustomed to will not last forever.

That realization has also changed the way he looks at his remaining games.

Early in the season, he found himself counting how many games he had left. Eventually, he realized that he did not want to spend his final playing year focused on numbers. After all, there’s enough of that in the classroom.

“I want to make my remaining games count instead of counting them.”

He already knows what it feels like to win a championship. Once you have experienced that feeling, he says, it becomes something you want to experience again.

His goal for his final season is simple: finish as a champion and make the most of his last opportunity to play for La Salle.

“Playing for the Green and White is a privilege,” he said.

For years, that privilege has come with long days and very little down time.

Soon, there will be no more rushing from class to weights or finishing requirements after practice. The schedule that once felt routine will eventually become part of his college memories.

So, everything that is happening now? He’s making them count.