Ferdinand "Thirdy" Crisologo Ravena III (born December 17, 1996) is a Filipino professional basketball player for

Dubai Basketball Dubai Basketball is a professional basketball club based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The team competes in the ABA League and the EuroLeague. The club plays its home games at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. History Dubai Basketball was found ...

of the

ABA League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...

. Ravena played college basketball for the

Ateneo Blue Eagles The Ateneo Blue Eagles are the collegiate varsity teams of the Ateneo de Manila University that play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the premiere collegiate league in the Philippines. The Ateneo collegiate ...

of the

UAAP The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univer ...

. He plays the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

position and is listed at 6 ft 2 in (1.89 m)

Early life

Ravena was born on December 17, 1996, in

Iloilo City Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region of the Philippines, located on the southeastern coast of th ...

, Philippines. He is the son of

Bong Ravena Ferdinand "Bong" Ravena II (born May 22, 1970) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and a current assistant coach for the TNT Tropang 5G of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was nicknamed The Raven during his playing ...

, who played for the

UE Red Warriors The UE Red Warriors, Lady Warriors, Junior Warriors and Lady Junior Warriors are the collegiate men's and women's, and high school men's and women's, respectively, varsity teams of the University of the East (UE) that play in the University Athle ...

and was the 1992 PBA Rookie of the year and Mozzy Crisologo-Ravena, a retired volleyball player who used to play for the

UST Golden Tigresses The UST Golden Tigresses are the women’s collegiate varsity volleyball team of the UST Growling Tigers, representing the University of Santo Tomas in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). Their head coach as of April 1 ...

and the

Philippines women's national volleyball team The Philippines women's national volleyball team represents the Philippines in international volleyball competitions and friendly matches, governed by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation since 2021. Philippines' highest achievement w ...

. He is also the younger brother of

Kiefer Ravena Kiefer Isaac Crisologo Ravena (; born October 27, 1993) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Yokohama B-Corsairs of the B.League. Ravena played for the Ateneo Blue Eagles of the UAAP The University Athletic Association o ...

, who is currently playing for the

Shiga Lakestars Shiga Lakes (滋賀レイクス), officially Shiga Lakestars, is a Japanese men's basketball team playing in the Western Conference of the B.League. They are based in the Shiga Prefecture. Arenas * Shiga Daihatsu Arena * Ukaruchan Arena * Mori ...

, also in Japan's

B.League The B.League is a men's professional basketball league in Japan. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that was operated by the FIBA-affi ...

, and the older brother of Dani Ravena, who played for the

Ateneo Lady Eagles The Ateneo Blue Eagles are the collegiate varsity teams of the Ateneo de Manila University that play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the premiere collegiate league in the Philippines. The Ateneo collegiate me ...

. and in the

Premier Volleyball League The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is the top-level professional women's volleyball league in the Philippines organized by the Sports Vision Management Group, Inc. The PVL was established in 2004 as the inter-collegiate Shakey's V-League (SV ...

Collegiate career

UAAP Season 77 (2014)

Ravena's rookie season was in 2014 alongside his brother

. There was a lot of hype surrounding Thirdy's rookie season as he was considered the future of the league. Unfortunately, Thirdy had one of the worst seasons of his up and coming college career, as he only averaged 1.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in seven minutes per game.

UAAP Season 78 (2015)

This was supposed to be Thirdy's second year but he had to sit out because of bad grades. It is in the rules of Ateneo sports that you can not play in any league (even if not UAAP) if you have a failing mark.

UAAP Season 79 (2016)

This was officially Thirdy's second playing year where he led the Blue Eagles to the 2nd Seed with a 10–4 win loss record and faced the

FEU Tamaraws The FEU Tamaraws and Lady Tamaraws are the varsity teams of Far Eastern University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). The university's high school varsity teams are called the ''FEU-D Baby Tamaraws, Baby Tamaraws'' ...

in the semifinals. He helped Ateneo advance to the finals against their archrivals the

De La Salle Green Archers The De La Salle Green Archers and Lady Archers are the varsity teams representing De La Salle University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, among other leagues. The "Green Archer" is the traditional university mascot. Whi ...

in a 2–0 series win by the Green Archers.

UAAP Season 80 (2017)

With Thirdy having experienced two years in the UAAP, he led the Blue Eagles to the 1st seed with a 13–1 win–loss record. They once again faced FEU in the semifinals and were in the brink of elimination despite having the twice-to-beat advantage. They faced La Salle in the finals again but this time triumphant winning 2–1 in the best of three finals series. Thirdy grabbed the Finals MVP honors with Ateneo's ninth championship.

UAAP Season 81 (2018)

As defending champions and with Ateneo representing the Philippines in that year's Jones Cup, expectations were high for Ateneo. Everyone thought they would sweep it but they lost their first game of the season to the

Adamson Soaring Falcons The Adamson Soaring Falcons, Lady Falcons, Baby Falcons and Lady Baby Falcons are the collegiate men's and women's, and high school men's and women's, respectively, varsity teams of Adamson University that play in the University Athletic Associa ...

. After that loss, the Blue Eagles led by Thirdy were fired up and did their best ending with a 12–2 record. Ateneo faced FEU again and won in one game. Thirdy again led Ateneo to back-to-back titles, 10th overall against the

UP Fighting Maroons The UP Fighting Maroons are the collegiate varsity teams of the University of the Philippines Diliman. The teams play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the Philippines' premier college sports league. UP is one o ...

. Thirdy won Finals MVP for the second time in a row with a historical 38 point performance in Game 2 of the UAAP Finals.

UAAP Season 82 (2019)

For Thirdy's final year in the UAAP, he led Ateneo to a 14–0 season sweep and booked them an automatic trip to the finals. For the finals they faced the UST Growling Tigers. Beating them in 2 games for a three-peat and Ateneo's 11th title. Thirdy won Finals MVP for the third straight time (first in UAAP history). Thirdy's 32 point game in Game 1 of the Finals sealed the case for Thirdy's third straight Finals MVP trophy.

Professional career

San-en NeoPhoenix (2020–2024)

On June 24, 2020,

San-en NeoPhoenix The are a Japanese professional basketball team based in the eastern Mikawa Province, Mikawa and Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture region of central Japan, that competes in the B.League. The team was founded in 1965, as the company team of the OSG ...

of the

announced that it has signed in Ravena for the 2020–21 season. He is the first ever player to be signed-in under the league's Asian Player Quotas system which involve non-Japanese Asian imports. Due to travel restrictions imposed as a response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Ravena was only able to leave the Philippines for Japan in October 2020. In his debut for the San-en NeoPhoenix, he put up 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in an 83-82 win over the

Shimane Susanoo Magic Shimane Susanoo Magic (島根スサノオマジック) is a Japanese professional basketball team in Japan's top-tier basketball competition, the B.League. The team is based in Shimane Prefecture with its home arena in Matsue, Matsue City, but wi ...

. On November 27, 2020, Ravena tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

after exhibiting fever which temporarily sidelined him from playing. He rejoined NeoPhoenix, after the team announced that he has recovered by December 11. In January 2021, Thirdy Ravena suffered a finger fracture and missed at least 3 months of B-league games. Ravena played 18 games in his first year with the NeoPhoenix, averaging 9.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 22.8 minutes per game. On May 10, 2021, Ravena signed a multi-year contract extension with the NeoPhoenix. On October 2, he faced his brother Kiefer and the

during the first game of the season, recording 11 points and 6 rebounds in a 93–83 loss.

Dubai Basketball (2024–present)

On July 30, 2024, Ravena signed a one-year contract for Emirati club

of Europe-based

National team career

Ravena has played for the Philippine national team at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers. He was included in the 21-man pool for the

2023 FIBA World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 25 August to 10 September 2023. The tournament was the second to feature 32 teams and was hosted by multipl ...

. However, he was not included in the 12-man final roster.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravena, Thirdy 1996 births Living people Ateneo Blue Eagles men's basketball players Basketball players from Iloilo Competitors at the 2021 SEA Games Filipino expatriate basketball people in Japan Filipino men's 3x3 basketball players Filipino men's basketball players 21st-century Filipino sportsmen Philippines men's national basketball team players Philippines national 3x3 basketball team players San-en NeoPhoenix players Shooting guards SEA Games medalists in basketball SEA Games silver medalists for the Philippines Sportspeople from Iloilo City Dubai Basketball players Filipino expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate basketball people in the United Arab Emirates ABA League players