When challenges come, we're all faced with the choice to give up or keep going.
This was the choice Kat Tan, more commonly known in the Philippine basketball community as the "One-armed Mamba", had to deal with in order to pursue her basketball dream.
Tan's nickname came from her being an avid fan of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, as she embraced the basketball great's "Mamba Mentality" which was designed to inspire people to become the best version of themselves.
Tan, who lost her left arm due to a freak accident, is not ashamed of being differently abled. Her Instagram account is full of videos and photos of her playing basketball against able-bodied players, especially men, and staying fit with weight training.
Aside from overcoming her own physical barriers with sheer grit and positivity, Tan is also fighting for inclusivity in basketball. And she embraces these challenges.
"I'm a walking challenge every day. But the way I see it, we can change something negative to something positive," Tan said.
"There are many ways to make us better in doing what we love. For me, it's playing basketball, but I believe with the challenges that we encounter, it pushes us beyond our limits and actually brings out the best in us."
Resilience through joy
Tan was 10 years old when her whole life changed.
In 1996, she was one of the victims of a rollercoaster crash at a school fair. She sustained injuries to her head and witnessed losing her left arm.
Before the traumatic experience, Tan had switched from playing tennis to basketball and dreamed of getting into her university basketball team. She was heavily inspired by her father, who was a fan of NBA great Michael Jordan.
Even at a very young age, Tan showed a lot of spirit and immediately accepted her situation despite holding onto big dreams in her life.
It was in hospital while recovering, that she learned more about late basketball star Bryant, who was an NBA rookie at the time.
There was a lot of talk about Bryant's rise in the NBA, which seemed to come more from hard work than talent.
From then on, Tan became a true Kobe Bryant fan, embracing his beliefs and values as an athlete, including "Mamba Mentality".
Two months after her accident, Tan went back to practice, to get her dream of playing for her university back on track. Her resilience paid off when she made the squad and she played until she graduated high school.
"When I was a kid, I was just doing it because I loved the game. And that's one of the lessons: When you [keep] doing what you love, you'll eventually be successful," Tan said.
Little did she know that she would be carrying a resilient spirit throughout her life.
Tan was given a chance to meet Bryant himself in 2016. She was invited to be a part of his Academy Tour in Manila, where the country's top junior basketball players were coached by the American star.
The five-time NBA champion challenged the squad to a three-point shootout at the end of a training session. If one player managed to shoot from the top of the three-point line, the whole group got to skip the running session.
Even though the camp was dominated by boys, they still chose Tan, who was 30 years old then, and she overcame the pressure to make a shot from the top of the key.
Fight continues for women and differently abled athletes
Being an active basketball player since the early 2000s, Tan witnessed how difficult it was to get women into the sport.
"We had to include cheerleaders in order to submit a complete roster," Tan said, as teams need a minimum number of players to play in a league.
"It was hard to find girls who like basketball. I remember that in order to form a team in school, we were getting people who didn't know how to play and they would just be on the bench. That was how hard it was."
Tan sees intimidation as one barrier that women face. In the Philippines, only men's basketball games are televised. Tan has also experienced being the lone woman in training sessions many times, and wants to encourage other women to be brave and confident in these situations.
"As long as you're brave enough to stand up for yourself and you know your own ability, [be confident]," she said.
"It starts with how you see yourself, then the way you see yourself will reflect in how others see you."
Tan acknowledges that there is progress being made.
There is now more access to highlights and the results of the women's game thanks to social media, and the Philippines welcomed its first female coach to the men's professional basketball league in 2021.
There are now organisations that invest in developmental programs for women's basketball and support the leaders of this movement.
Despite these wins, Tan continues to press for more support, and works to be a role model who inspires others.
"There are a lot of people, their eyes are on us, our every move," she said.
"It doesn't mean that we have to move perfectly.
"There's a lot that needs to change and to correct, but as long as we move together and we have the same goal, we'll get there in trying to change the game."
Tan also inspires differently abled people to excel in sports.
Currently, Philippine Paralympic medallists are only awarded half of the monetary incentive of Olympians.
But Tan believes in small steps, and says that starts with a healthy community of mentors and supporters.
"[It's to have people] see the ability of that person go beyond what the eyes can see. Disabilities now are not just physical. It's also mental, emotional," Tan said.
"We need the right people to be around us so that we can develop again that mentality of whatever other people can do, we can do it too."
More importantly, it's continuously making a personal choice to be limitless.
"Personally, I don't see myself as someone limited to my situation. I'm limitless, and whatever I want to do, I can do it.
"It's as simple as believing in yourself.
There are people who are willing to invest in you, but the most important thing is to invest in yourself because everything starts with you."
Beatrice Go is a freelance journalist and researcher from the Philippines. She was a former Rappler Sports multimedia reporter covering sports governance, national teams and athletes. She is a member of ABC International Development's Women in News and Sport Initiative, funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through the Team Up program.
