Neepawa hoops community grows through immigration

NEEPAWA — Robinson Roa thought he left his entire life behind when he moved to Brandon from the Philippines in 2021.

Six years after getting married, Roa took the leap of faith when Maple Leaf Foods — now Canada Packers — was recruiting butchers through the temporary foreign worker program. He just knew he wanted a better life for his wife and young children.

Though Roa was on the other side of the world, he found a small piece of home in the Brandon Ballers basketball team.

Every weekend throughout the winter — as long as the pork processing plant isn’t working overtime — Roa and his Filipino teammates carpool north on Highway 10 to play in the Neepawa Ballers league.

“We grow up with basketball. If you come to the Philippines, every street has a basketball ring,” Roa said.

“We were surprised there’s a lot of Filipinos in Neepawa. We were surprised there’s a league of Filipinos running. We’re very happy.

“It’s kind of stressful without your family, so it’s a good stress reliever.”

Roa, who is from Davao City on the island of Mindanao, followed a similar path to hundreds of Filipinos over the past few decades.

Most of those in the Neepawa Ballers moved to work at HyLife, the pork processing plant in Neepawa.

The 2021 Statistics Canada census highlights the massive hiring push HyLife has made over the past few years, with Neepawa’s population climbing by about 200 per year. In 2016, there were about 1,600 Filipinos in town. As of 2021, the number surpassed 2,600.

Roa, like just about everyone else following this path, had to move alone until gaining permanent residency three years later. Then, he was able to bring his family over.

He received Canadian citizenship last December and is proud to be a Brandonite.

“The community is good, they’re so welcoming, so it’s not hard to adjust to the community,” Roa said.

• • •

The first Filipino basketball league in Neepawa started in 2009 with six teams in one division.

Over the years, it expanded to as many as 14 in the open division and 10 in the senior (37-and-older) division.

It dropped down to 12 and eight for the 2025-26 season.

They’ll play most of their games on Sundays, and add some Saturdays if it doesn’t conflict with Neepawa Tigers high school games or, of course, overtime at HyLife, the major pork plant in town.

Rafael Flores, one of the league convenors, said about 85 per cent of the players in the league are HyLife employees.

That’s what Flores moved for in 2010. Like Roa, he moved by himself, but gained permanent residency less than two years later and brought his family over. His two children graduated from Neepawa Area Collegiate Institute.

“I wanted to move here especially because of my children. More opportunities here,” Flores said.

“The health here is good, lots of support from the government.”

• • •

Geoffrey Juaneza was in a similar boat. He had a few co-workers leave for Westman and decided to follow.

In the Philippines, he had a family engineering business focused on mechanical and civil engineering and building maintenance.

But when he moved in 2014, Juaneza started at the bottom in packaging before moving into a supervision role. He now manages the health, safety and security department.

Juaneza missed basketball, but not for long, as he joined the league in 2015.

“Philippines is a basketball crazy country,” Juaneza said.

“It’s every block … Every free space you can see, you will definitely see a ring and a board.”

He plays in the senior division, but races up and down the floor with a giant grin and child-like enthusiasm as he fires a no-look pass to an open teammate or fakes a pass to create an open jump shot.

Juaneza describes Filipino basketball as “free-flowing,” allowing talent and creativity to drive exciting offence.

It’s definitely a change of pace from the structure of the factory.

“It’s some sort of release,” Juaneza said. “The whole week’s busy, lots of moving pieces, lots of moving materials in the plant.

“From time to time, you feel stressed. This is an outlet for the majority of us.”

Juaneza is giving back to the game in a few ways now. He started refereeing two years ago to help Neepawa Ballers run smoothly. He also coaches Grade 7 and 8 boys’ hoops, and has assistant coached with the NACI junior varsity boys.

What started as an opportunity to better support his family by filling a void in the rural Manitoba job market became a beautiful new opportunity to impact the Neepawa basketball community.

While many move and look for other job opportunities as quickly as possible, Juaneza has been more than content staying at HyLife and working his way up.

“HyLife has been very, very supportive for everyone in the community, the workers, whoever would need assistance and support,” Juaneza said.

“I’m very, very thankful for HyLife, for the opportunity they gave me and my family.”

• • •

The moving process isn’t easy, but it was even tougher before the path was paved.

Van Afuang moved to Gladstone in 2002, and believes he’s the first internationally educated nurse recruited from the Philippines to Manitoba.

“Because of the economic status in the Philippines, I needed to go here because they offered me a good thing,” Afuang said, adding the change was hard without anyone to lean on for support.

“It’s kind of scary. Rice is part of our meal but for half of a year, I never had rice because I never knew where to go to buy a rice cooker.”

It’s much easier now for Filipinos to get a taste of home in Neepawa, literally. Catherine Vego moved to the town in 2014 and opened Vego’s Home Pinoy Restaurant. Carmela Comila, who moved in 2019, runs Lola’s bakery, which serves a full Filipino breakfast menu, and Tsibog’s Eatery and Catering opened less than two years ago.

As more Filipinos moved to the area, primarily Neepawa, they formed an organization called FILTOBA — the Filipino Association of South Western Manitoba — in 2010, and elected Afuang president.

The organization, now the Filipino Association of Neepawa and Area, helps people adjust to life in Canada by assisting in the process of buying a car or a cell phone, applying for permanent residency and staging activities to connect them with the local Filipino community.

For Afuang, who doesn’t play in the Neepawa Ballers but shows up to support, the league is one incredibly important way to bring people together.

“I can say basketball is the backbone of the Filipino community to be united,” Afuang said. “In every corner in the Philippines, we play basketball.”

• • •

Neepawa Ballers has been the one constant in Jhetro Young IV’s life since he moved to Gladstone 10 years ago.

He joined the league in 2017 at age 13 and quickly learned how to play against grown men.

“I’ve been playing since I was eight or nine years old and basketball was always a passion, an outlet for me,” Young IV said.

“Playing in the men’s league taught me a lot.”

Young IV moved because his father, a butcher, got a job at HyLife.

He joined the Neepawa Ballers back then, and still plays in the league’s 37-and-older division on the Gladstone Warriors.

“What you would make in a month, that’s how much they would make in a year (back home),” Young IV said.

He got adjusted to the small-town prairie life during junior high, and attended William Morton Collegiate, where he played varsity basketball all four years.

In the meantime, his father left the plant for a custodian position at William Morton.

Young IV graduated, then enrolled in the Assiniboine College business administration program for two years. He works as an insurance broker in Neepawa.

The move has been a good one for the family, including younger brother Iver, who plays with him on the Uncrowned Kings. It gave them financial stability and opportunities for higher education.

Still, Young IV misses home.

“Lifestyle-wise, I would much prefer working back home,” he said. “But I know the opportunities are here right now.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com