Champions will lose many times in their career. We’ll only see their wins, but champions go through heartbreak and injuries, too.
35-year-old Migs Bustos has taken numerous different routes in his journey of life – a handful of such routes he calls unplanned or nonlinear. But in everything that he has been through and achieved, a couple of elements come in common: first, his love of sports. And second, his love for others.
The broadcast journalist, host, former basketball coach, and father of two has always been dedicated to servicing those around him. The first fragments of his champion lifestyle began in his younger years, when he put his love of basketball to action as team captain for the basketball varsity team of De La Salle Zobel in the early 2000s. But while Bustos enjoyed and made the most of this time of his life, it didn’t take long before his coach and mentor, Boris Aldeguer, realized a greater potential purpose for him.
With Bustos’ leadership skills being recognized, he was given the role of coaching staff for the basketball varsity while still a student; and it was a role wherein the rest of his life started to take form. Bustos seized his gift in managing others and bringing out the best in them, so much so that he helped the team clinch their first-ever championship and etch their place in history.
He continued to forge this path well after his student years. Bustos’ talents in coaching led him to have stints as part of the MILO®-backed BEST Center, as well as going to his alma mater where, as a coach, he helped build athletes’ skills on the court and strengthen their winning mentality in both sports and life. Bustos, on his overall experience around sports, shares, “I'm a heavy advocate of sports, not because of the rewards, the glory, or the sport itself; but what it does in life. We don’t live the sport, but we live out values through sport.”
But as with any other journey, life can throw curveballs – and this is exactly what was hurled at him by a certain point. Sensing a redirection was imminent, Bustos wholly accepted change; and this time, it was from being a basketball coach to holding a full-time career in media, as a broadcast journalist and host.
Regardless of the change, Bustos kept his love and service to those around him intact. As a storyteller, he holds a strong belief that he is not in his position to merely service the self, or only because of his broadcasting skills alone. Says Bustos of his career, “Hindi naman para sa amin to. Storyteller lang kami. Basta kami, gagawin namin ang trabaho namin, and whatever help or contribution it gives someone is the biggest fulfilment. That is our why, and that is the purpose of what we do. It’s something bigger than us.”
Today, the concept of paying it forward remains center stage for Bustos with his current advocacies. Not only does he intend on maximizing his voice to promote healthy living and good parenting, but also in shining the light on those currently under-represented in sports. Bustos shares passionately about his hope to one day further uplift the value and potential of today’s sports officials, especially in basketball, as well as their families; but also providing bigger platforms and opportunities for indigenous peoples. That way, he notes, more local athletes can be discovered and honed, and the future for Philippine sports and athletes can be sustained.
Whether he’s living out his passion for sports, broadcasting the weather report, or being be the best husband and father at home, Bustos retains the champion mindset that has served him well over the years – that is, to keep a winning mentality regardless of obstacles, love the process, and live Christ-like in every aspect of life.
Such serves as Bustos’ definition of success – then, and now. More than the tangible proof, simply put, it’s living your purpose. “If you have your why, your North Star, all roads will naturally lead you to that,” he shares.
