Grit meets glamor in Cole Micek’s life as he juggles being a pro basketball player, a model, and an actor.
When Cole Micek is passionate about something, he goes all in.
It happened with basketball. His dad, a former college basketball coach, put a ball in his hands when he was only two years old, and from then on, he was obsessed with the sport. He made shots on a plastic Little Tikes hoop at home, he hung up player posters in his room in Los Angeles, he used to sit in front of his TV and watch Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls — the makings of a lifetime passion.
“[Basketball] is my first love,” he tells The GAME with a cheery smile.
He was in middle school when he started to see basketball from a more perceptive lens. At that point, he realized it could be more than just a hobby; it could be a path that could lead to his career.
Fast forward, and Cole is now 29 years old and plays for the Macau Black Bears. He was even recently back in Manila with his team for a friendly game against Gilas Pilipinas, an experience that was a “dream” for him as a Filipino-American. Ultimately, middle schooler Cole was right: committing to basketball did lead him to a career dedicated to his first love.
But what young Cole didn’t quite foresee back then was that the sport would also lead him down other roads: modeling and acting.
Although basketball will always be his first love, the Filipino-American is more than just an athlete. Somewhere along his journey towards becoming a pro hooper, he discovered opportunities to explore the world of entertainment. He has starred in feature films, is a well-known model, and has been featured in major fashion magazines, including Vogue.
Cole, however, admits that he’s had his share of what he calls ‘Troy Bolton moments’ — instances when he’s had to give up modeling or acting opportunities for basketball, or vice versa. Being in multiple demanding industries naturally comes with its challenges.
But as someone who has never doubted his decision to chase his passions, he is grounded by a simple principle: “I think if you really are passionate about something, then you’re going to make it happen.”
Ball is life
Cole Micek’s dad has been his basketball coach his whole life.
“My dad, he’s such a good dad. He’s not like your typical super hard-nosed coach. I’m not like that kind of coach’s kid. He was always like, ‘Okay, I’ll love you whatever you want to do. Like if you want to do music, if you want to play chess, if you want whatever sport — but you want to play basketball, you got to commit.’
“And I was like, “Yeah, Dad. I want you to push me, and I really want to pursue this. I want to get a scholarship. I want to play as long as I can. And so that’s when we made the decision to really pursue it.”
Cole went all-in, from the long training sessions to all the trials and errors. He even used to brush his teeth and eat using his nondominant hand to train himself to make better left-handed shots. Textbook dedication, a trait he earned from a lifetime spent on the court, as well as his other his family members, who are athletes too.
And interestingly enough, the Los Angeles native’s basketball career led him to the Philippines, the country of his mother’s heritage.
In 2015, Cole played for the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles and was part of the team’s roster in that year’s FilOil Flying V pre-season tournament.
“At 18 years old, getting recruited to play there and packing up everything and leaving to live in another country, it was crazy,” he reflects. “But it was really fun. I had a good time. Coach Tab was awesome, and all those teammates, I still keep in touch with them, and it’s nice to see them back now.”
Cole looks back on his days with Ateneo fondly. Not only did he make friends for life (he was also recently in town to attend Kiefer Ravena’s wedding, where he got to catch up with some of his old teammates, whom he still refers to as the BEBOB, or the Blue Eagle Band of Brothers), but he was also able to deepen his connection with his Filipino heritage.
Although Cole unfortunately never got the opportunity to play in the UAAP, his time in the Philippines opened a different door for him instead. It was during his time as an Ateneo player that he got his first modeling gig.
“They asked me to model for Get Blue, the student bookstore shirts. So I started modeling here in the Philippines, and when I went back to LA and was in college there, I was still modeling, while being a student-athlete.”
More than a ball player
Cole returned to LA from his stint in Katipunan and played for the University of St. Francis on a full scholarship. He remained committed to basketball as ever, and even became one of the team’s leading scorers in his junior year. But it was also during this time that he began to truly branch out in the entertainment industry — and as with everything else in his life, he went all in.
“Acting came about just later in college, I started commercial acting, and started getting into the TV and film space after. And then in quarantine [during the pandemic] is when I really took acting seriously and really started training to be an actor.”
He’s had an acting coach ever since, and no matter how loaded his schedule became — with training sessions, photoshoots, and film shoots — he feels lucky that he never felt the need to choose just one.
Instead, Cole does it all.
“I’ve been lucky. I’ve been able to balance [it all], and I think my family definitely instilled in me just to be disciplined and to be able to have a really good sense of time management. So growing up, I always got really good grades, I always got straight A’s, and I always excelled on the court.
“So I think I just take that with me as I’m older now and have all these different things that I’m passionate about.”
Now playing 3×3 basketball, the Filipino-American gets to travel all over the world, excelling on the court and thriving in front of the camera. The best of both worlds.
“That’s why 3×3 was so appealing to me because you can you can have training camps, then you go play in a tournament, and then you can get back to your day job. So a lot of 3×3 players have other day jobs, mine just happens to be in the entertainment space.”
Though it’s rare for a pro player like himself to delve into another extremely demanding industry, Cole does find intersections between his alter-egos.
“I definitely take the athlete’s mindset and mentality into modeling and acting. You got to approach acting like a craft. You really got to work at it. And then modeling too, it’s a skill. Even though a lot of it is about your look, you got to be disciplined. You got to show up on time and you got to be a good person on set.
“So yeah, the athlete’s mindset, I take it with me everywhere.”
The Mamba mentality
Cole Micek doesn’t sugarcoat it: living a double life is not easy by any means. But what keeps him going? A mentality he developed by looking up to a certain Los Angeles Lakers star.
Cole had the rare opportunity to meet Kobe Bryant in 2018 while he was training at the Mamba Sports Academy in California, getting ready for his junior season at the University of St. Francis.
“It was life-changing,” Cole says, remembering the moment. “It was definitely such a blessing…when you get to meet your idols, and then it’s everything you’ve ever wanted to be and more. He’s still my wallpaper, and I can still hear his voice, and just the things that he said to me on our first meeting.”
Cole recalls that when he told Kobe about his full-ride scholarship to St. Francis and that he would try his best, the Lakers legend replied, “I don’t want to hear any of that try my best sh*t. You’re going to go out there and do it. You got it in you, so just go and make it happen and don’t say you’ll try.”
This changed Cole’s perception of the game. “He just has a different mentality. That Mamba mentality is so real, like you could really feel it when you’re around him. Like when he walks in the gym, it’s like he’s glowing.
“So I definitely try to take that with me and remind myself. Whenever I maybe don’t want to train or just feel bogged down, I always kind of get back to my roots and remember kind of what Kobe said. And that kind of keeps me going as well, too.”
But it wasn’t just Kobe that taught Cole this lesson. His grit was built from a lifetime of showing up, sweating buckets, waking up early, and finishing late. His passions for hoops and modeling and acting opened doors for him, but ultimately, it’s his dedication and discipline — his own version of the Mamba mentality, if you will — that has allowed him to really flourish in both scenes.
And that’s something he wants everyone to know.
“If you really are passionate about something, then you’re going to make it happen. You’re going to make it work and make it make sense financially.
“Even it’s it’s hard, pursuing all this stuff — sometimes in this in this space…in modeling you don’t know when your next job is going to come [from]. You might have a really good month and the next month not so much.
“But I think if you really enjoy what you’re doing, you’re going to make it work, and you’re going to just keep pushing.”
Banner image from Cole Micek on Instagram.