{"id":222544,"date":"2019-07-12T04:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T08:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=222544"},"modified":"2019-07-12T04:00:33","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T08:00:33","slug":"ph-volcanoes-player-opens-up-about-past-being-struggling-past-as-an-orphan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/12\/ph-volcanoes-player-opens-up-about-past-being-struggling-past-as-an-orphan\/","title":{"rendered":"PH Volcanoes\u2019 player opens up about past being struggling past as an orphan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI thought it was the glue. That\u2019s why I chose rugby for sports.\u201d – Lito Ramirez (File Photo<\/a>: Lito Ramirez<\/a>\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lito Ramirez, who made history as one of the first full Filipino national rugby team players, born and raised in Manila, has recently made waves after sharing his rags to riches story where he used to \u201csmell rugby\u201d to \u201cplaying rugby\u201d for the Philippine Volcanoes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taken in by a local orphanage on March 17, 1994, which makes the athlete 25 years-old on paper, Ramirez and his older brother\u2019s parents went missing and were under the care of their uncle, who was an addict. The boys were sent to the streets to beg for food, which led to them referring to a small bottle of the solvent glue to fulfill themselves. Ramirez elaborates that they \u201cslept wherever the night caught up with [them],\u201d and after being sent to an orphanage by a woman who spotted their living conditions, bounced from one location to another for years until ending up at Tuloy sa Don Bosco.<\/span><\/p>\n

Six-year-old Ramirez was residing in that orphanage when counsellors from his school urged him to pick a sport as a recreational activity, which he quickly stated he was not interested in football and basketball. Therefore, rugby was suggested, which he reveals he \u201cdidn\u2019t have any idea it was a sport,\u201d revealing, \u201cI thought it was the glue. That\u2019s why I chose rugby for sports.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2012, he participated in the country\u2019s under-18 team before being acquired by the Volcanoes in 2015, where he was amidst bigger, stockier teammates who were half-Filipino. General manager of the Philippine Rugby Football Union Jake Letts described Ramirez as \u201cdangerous\u201d on the field, applauding the player, stating, \u201cHis strength is his speed and his agility. It\u2019s really hard for a big guy to catch him. When they do catch him it can be painful.\u201d Letts added, \u201cHe\u2019s definitely got the grit. He\u2019s been through it all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After making a name for himself in the professional sports industry, Ramirez now has one goal in mind, explaining, \u201cI want to be with my parents. I miss being part of a family. I just don\u2019t know how I can find them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lito Ramirez, who made history as one of the first full Filipino national rugby team players, born and raised in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":222545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer","mauthors-gianna-llanes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222544"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222623,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222544\/revisions\/222623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}