GAME ON

The last century has seen a historical mark up of female athletes dominating on the field of play. Meet the trailblazing Filipinas who prove that sports is also a feminine discipline

-  BIANCA CUSTODIO, NANA CARAGAY, PATRICIA VILLORIA

SOFIA FRANK

Figure Skating

Sofia Frank is an unabashed girl ’s girl. “I hang out with my friends. I love shopping. I’m really into fashion. I love online shopping. Just looking at clothes is a hobby,” she gushes. In fact, she was happy to interrupt her schedule just to f ly in for this photo shoot. “I’ve done shoots before but like, for fun, not for something like this… it’s crazy. I’m really excited!”

On camera, she’s a natural, which comes as no surprise since figure skating is one of the most performative and expressive sports. She found her way into it when her parents took her to a skating rink at the age of three “to cool off from the California heat,” but one look and she discovered her calling: “As soon as I saw these girls with sparkly dresses and stepped on the ice, I fell in love with it immediately. And yeah, I’ve been at it since.”

But make no mistake—there is a lot of pain, sacrifice, hard work, and discipline involved, which she knows comes with the territory. “The drive to keep learning and accelerating keeps me going. I would say that I’m a perfectionist. There’s always something new to learn and to keep getting better at.” Her next goal: beef ing up her technical elements score to qualify for the World Championships, something she hopes to accomplish this year. But until then, there’s still time for fun, fashion, and yes, photo shoots.

MAZEL PARIS

Skateboarding

Mazel Paris Alegado is not afraid to go after what she wants.

At age five, she saw her brother skateboarding and wanted to see for herself if she could do it too. Three simple words kindled the start of her sporting dreams: “Can I try?”

Now at 10 years old, she has traveled all over the world to train and represent the Philippines in international skateboarding events. She proudly was the youngest Philippine representative at the 2023 Asian Games, too.