Arnold Van Opstal

Arnold Van Opstal is a Filipino-German professional basketball player who last played for the GlobalPort Batang Pier of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He has also played as part of the Philippine national basketball team in international competitions. Van Opstal played for the De La Salle University in the collegiate-level.

Arnold Van Opstal
Free agent
PositionCenter
LeaguePBA
Personal information
Born (1991-12-15) December 15, 1991
Germany
NationalityFilipino / German
Listed height6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High schoolDe La Salle Zobel
CollegeDe La Salle University
PBA draft2016 / Special draft
Selected by the San Miguel Beermen
Playing career2016–present
Career history
2016–2017San Miguel Beermen
2017–2018GlobalPort Batang Pier
Career highlights and awards

Early life

Arnold Van Opstal was born in December 15, 1991[1] Germany. He was born to Heinz, a German who was the former PAL general manager of Europe and Luzviminda Llantero who works at the Department of Foreign Affairs as head of the Machine Readable Passport Personalization Center of the Office of Consular Affairs. Van Opstal also has a brother named Christopher who is a lawyer by the age of 23 and a graduate of the University of Technology Sydney.[2]

Arnold Van Opstal studied at De La Salle Zobel from kindergarten to Grade 1 before relocating abroad with his family. His family resided in various places abroad such as in Bonn in Germany, the Hague in the Netherlands, Berlin, and then to Sydney, Australia due to his mother's foreign postings. In 2007, a year after Van Opstal's father died, his family moved backed to Manila after his mother received a Philippine-based assignment.[2]

He re-enrolled in De La Salle Zobel as a high school student and later enrolled at De La Salle University for his collegiate studies[2] to pursue a degree in International Studies.[3]

High school career

Van Opstal was scouted by Jack Rodriguez who was a former La Salle varsity player who encouraged him to re-enroll at De La Salle Zobel. Van Opstal managed to earn a place for the school's junior varsity team for the 2008-09 season and was supposed to be named Rookie of the Year but was disqualified after he was ejected for retaliating during a game against the University of Santo Tomas. He spent a year-off from basketball to finish his studies at Zobel due to the non-honoring of his Australian credits.

College career

Van Opstal played for the De La Salle Green Archers while in college. However, in July 2015, he opted his remaining playing year with the Green Archers due to a recurring Achilles' heel injury. He was a key player when the Green Archers won the UAAP title in 2013.[4]

Professional career

Van Opstal played at the PBA D-League while still playing with De La Salle. He played for the Hapee Fresh Fighters at the 2014-15 PBA D-League Aspirant's Cup but was later relegated to the reserve list by due to injuries.[5] In May 2015, he signed to Cebuana Lhuillier Gems and left Hapee.[6] He played in five games for Cebuana.[4]

He then went to various places such as England and Thailand to regain form. He also trained in the United States in March 2016.[7] He was part of squad that participated at the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge.

International career

After recovering from an Achilles' heel injury in August 2016, Van Opstal expressed his commitment to play for the Philippine national basketball team.[7] He was part of the squad that participated at the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge.

gollark: I don't really like the current world in some ways either, but I think markets are generally a fairly okay system if managed in some ways.
gollark: Okay, continue.
gollark: Where are the actual incentives in anarchism? It seems that you basically just expect people to embark on giant construction projects and give resources out of the goodness of their hearts or something. In capitalism you actually have a decent direct reason to do that - your company can make more profit if it makes a new silicon fab or something, so you'll get money yourself, and you can get resources from other companies because you both get benefits for trading that way.
gollark: Well, that's just wrong.
gollark: You could do a *bit* of poor-people-saving.

References
  1. "Arnold VAN OPSTAL". FIBA Asia Challenge 2016. FIBA. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  2. Henson, Joaquin (8 November 2010). "Make mine green, says AVO". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  3. Ganglani, Naveen (2 July 2016). "Arnold Van Opstal: the jet-setting hoopster". Rappler. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  4. "La Salle's Arnold Van Opstal skips final year in UAAP, eyes PBA stint". InterAksyon.com. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  5. Terrado, Reuben (13 May 2015). "Van Opstal eager to take on Hapee big men as he teams up with Tautuaa, Torres at Cebuana". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  6. Terrado, Reuben (12 May 2015). "Cebuana Lhuillier Gems boost D-League title bid by signing Van Opstal from Hapee". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  7. Ballesteros, Jan (21 August 2016). "After a year out, Arnold Van Opstal ready to re-commit to basketball and Gilas". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.