When someone mentions "Easyway", it can mean either two things: bubble tea or basketball. Easyway Basketball has been around for over a decade and gradually grew into one of the powerhouses that we know of in the Brunei basketball scene. But how did it all begin? Yee Chun Leong of BruSports News managed to catch up with their 38-year-old owner, Giap On, to find out why he decided to move into the sport.
Q: We all know Easyway as a bubbletea shop, but why venture into basketball?
A: Like everyone who has ever played basketball, the sport has always been my passion since I was young.
Having a business which then allows me to pursue the passion beyond just playing on the court, I thought to myself "why not?" and the rest, as they say, is history.
Q: What are your earliest memories in the sport?
A: When I was young, we always hung out after school to play basketball in Tutong. I just enjoyed playing together with my friends. I wasn’t like a good player or anything.
Q: Was there any player that inspired you?
A: I don’t have any player that I really like but when I started out it was Magic Johnson at that time.
Q: Any experience that you would like to share from your playing days?
A: I didn’t work hard and now I try advise others not to follow in my footsteps as they will regret it.
I remember my coach back then (Lim Soon Hock) taught basketball in Tutong and I was promised that I would be selected for the U-16 team to represent the country in Kota Kinabalu.
But in the end I didn’t get selected because I didn't give it my 100 per cent for training and didn’t have discipline.
I was upset that I never got selected but whenever I think back, I know that it was my fault. So I try to tell people not to make the same mistake.
I like to share my experience in hopes that others can achieve what they want in basketball and that they need to work hard for it.
Q: What is the vision of Easyway Basketball?
A: Our vision is to enhance our local talent through local tournaments under Easyway and to be able to represent Brunei in international competitions, whether it is be as national athletes or as semi-pros.
Q: How long do you think you can keep it going?
A: It has been roughly 15 years now, give or take. I honestly can’t remember the exact moment when it started, so I doubt I will know when we'll ever reach the finish line either. Winning is just addictive, don't you agree?
Q: How come you took the plunge into semi-pro basketball with the setting up of the Beruang Blazers in 2016?
A: Growth takes place outside of our comfort zone, and our local players would not have grown if we kept on competing against familiar faces tournament after tournament.
This was an opportunity to test the mettle as well as take baby steps to represent our country in club format.
Q: Where do you hope to see Easyway Basketball in the next five years?
A: I hope to compete with our players under the Beruang Blazers' banner overseas but we have to take it one step at a time because our level is still a serious work in progress.
The fact that the local players are unable to consistently dominate in Borneo Cup means much work is still needed before we can even dream of competing outside of Borneo.
Q: What is the greatest achievement for Easyway to date? Or maybe the most memorable?
A: The greatest achievement would be winning our first Sultan Cup championship in 2011 when we were the underdogs.
Nothing ever came close to that night of raw emotions once the buzzer sounded.
The scene is still clear in my mind when they blew the final whistle and we were running like mad to the middle of the court. That was really the start of our success story in the past decade.
Q: We know there is a youth setup with players moving up the ranks, how is the recruitment process like for the club?
A: What we try to do is bring the youth up to another level in the sport. It is important that we know their background and their attitude before we recruit them into the team. As mentioned, discipline is needed to go far.
Q: what about a women's programme?
A: We will always support women's basketball and it would be great to see the women's team do well.
As for now, there are too few women basketball players in the country to even start another programme and we rather not compete for the small talent pool that others have already started.
We also feel the women's team need to have more opportunities to compete outside Brunei in order to level up and raise women's basketball profile in Brunei.
Q: How does Easyway Basketball give back especially in helping the national basketball team?
A: We are one of the sponsors of the Brunei national basketball team that won the two Borneo Cups (2011 Kota Kinabalu edition and 2019 Brunei edition), and sent the national team to compete in China in 2010, Vietnam in 2011 and the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 SEABA Pre-Qualifier in Thailand in 2018.
Q: What do you think has been most critical to the success of the team?
A: The loyal contributions of our current and past players including our long-standing senior members - Ben Sim, (Md) Zainul (Ashyraf HJ) Hussin and Choo Yung Jian.
Apart from them, it would be our absent team manager, Wira Pori (who's currently on embassy posting in the UAE), as well as our past team sponsors and dedicated fans that has been supporting us all these years.
