MANILA, Philippines - It wasn’t the first time she felt stumped.

When television host Lia Cruz fished for the answer to a sports trivia question, her guest—former basketball player and game commentator Dominic Uy—threw the question back at her. “I know him, and I think he was intent on making me look like an idiot on cam,” Cruz says with a laugh. “We asked him what’s the right answer and he goes, ‘Lia, what’s the right answer?’ I was like, ‘Dom, you’re supposed to answer, you’re the guest.’ And he goes, ‘Hindi mo lang alam (You just don’t know),’ on TV!”

Some say it’s her pixie-cute face or candid charm that lets Cruz get away with boob-tube boo-boos. But the petite 22-year-old knows that just being eye candy has its limits. “I’ve heard so many different things, like I shouldn’t get the job because they don’t even like the way I look,” shares Cruz. “But some people, like the ones I actually work and interact with, know I’m making progress. I know I can learn. I’m not intellectually limited. Learning is a process, you can’t rush it.”

Cruz has indeed bravely faced the raps of armchair sports analysts. After all, not everyone has a job where mistakes are there for everyone to see. “I did not know what I was saying at first. I really didn’t. But I think it’s a combination of what they look for in a female sportscaster. It’s not just about knowing the game. It’s also a matter of delivering and performing well,” she says.

And Cruz has no qualms about admitting that basketball’s Xs and Os still confound her even while hosting “House of Hoops” and reporting at courtside in amateur basketball games on cable sports channel BTV.

“I always get comments, even from my friends and family, ‘Hindi mo naman alam ang sinasabi mo (You don’t know what you’re saying)’. And I’m like, ‘Medyo (A little),’” she shares. “But I’ve learned a lot more. From my experience, when you’re doing courtside, you have to understand the terms and the game. You don’t really have to do analysis on basketball. But when I started hosting ‘House of Hoops,’ even with three years of courtside experience behind me, I had a hard time. I’m just not an analyst. It’s very hard to learn to do that. And it’s hard to all of a sudden be at the level of your colleagues in analysis because they’ve had years and years of experience. And analysis is basically a lifelong thing that you learn. These people have been basketball players or basketball fans since they were children. So it’s a tough job to try to cram everything in a few months. I know I’m nowhere near that level.”

Quickly stocking up on sports jargon, though, is nothing new for this communication graduate of Ateneo de Manila University. Even before her cable channel gigs, Cruz clinched a student-reporting stint in the 2005 and 2006 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) basketball games on Studio 23.

Yet, Cruz recalls, she only had two weeks of preparation before stepping into the sidelines of the country’s most popular collegiate league. “They didn’t tell me right away that I had the job. So I read on the Internet, the reputable websites, the good ones. I researched there. I also had a lot of help from friends who know the game really well. The coaching staff of Ateneo was very helpful—they really go out of their way to explain things. I asked people who knew what they’re talking about and I tried to read up on it. That was all the preparation I did before going into Ateneo reporting.”

The transition, though, from cheering to interviewing the Blue Eagles wasn’t entirely easy. As Cruz shares: “I’ve always been a fan of the UAAP. I used to watch the games, but I’m no way an expert. Most of the time I would be wondering what calls the referees made. I had to learn mostly the technical terms—but that was not even the hardest part. The hardest part was learning the delivery side. People think that as long as you know the game it’s so easy to be on cam, but it’s not. It’s a whole different thing. Aside from learning about the game, you have to learn on cam. You have to get used to the coaches and the players. Especially in collegiate basketball, they’re very secretive. You have to gain their trust. It was an entire combination of things that I had to get used to.”

But for Cruz, there are some things that need no warm up. Born Maria Michelina Diaz de Rivera Cruz on July 13, 1985, the spunky host grew up letting her graceful movements do most of the talking.

“I used to do ballet, jazz, modern dance, hip hop. I even took Russian folk dance. Then I got into cheerleading in high school and gymnastics,” she says. “I come from a mostly theater and dancing background. I was a ballerina for eight years. I’ve been taking theater workshops my entire life. I was part of (the theater group) Tanghalang Ateneo in college and I did a lot of plays when I was growing up. I’ve also been in commercials on fast foods and telecoms.”

Music, too, is a constant part of Cruz’s life. She hosts a radio show on NU 107 every Monday night. Plus, there’s rocker Yael Yuzon, the vocalist and guitarist of Sponge Cola, her boyfriend of three years.

“I’m into music, but not as much as he is, because I can’t carry a tune to save my life. But he’s a bigger fan of my job than I am because he’s a basketball nut. His dream in life is to become a basketball player, but he’s short so he couldn’t do it. But it’s hard to talk to him (on basketball tips). He gets so passionate that I’d rather ask someone else more mellow,” she says with a laugh.

Cruz also counts her father Jojet and mother Maia among her personal boosters. She shares: “The media work, they saw it as a gradual development of what I’ve been doing ever since I was a kid. They’ve been totally supportive.”

But Cruz is not entirely naïve in the sports world, as some may think. “For a couple of years I was a swimmer. I did compete, but it wasn’t varsity in my school, just in sports clubs. I didn’t win but I placed somehow. Nothing too competitive, I’m really more into the performing aspect. I consider cheerleading a sport so I always follow the competitions in the States. Sometimes I watch tennis. Right now I box and I’m getting into yoga,” she says.

And Cruz doesn’t see herself taking a timeout just yet. As she points out: “I’m definitely not a basketball expert, that’s an aspect I have to work on, but I enjoy everything else. It doesn’t feel like work to me. It comes naturally. It fits my strength and my personality. It really feels like I should be doing it. I think even if I didn’t audition as a courtside reporter, I’d probably find my way into it somehow. It’s something that I enjoy. It’s something I know I can do and I know I can do better still.”