Good looks, a great voice, and an even bigger presence that is sure to make sports fans go all-out in following players’ every move. That is what Hans Galeria, formerly known as Sonah, brings with him every day he’s hosting the Philippines’ biggest esports league.

I caught up with this young Thomasian after one of the more recent matches in the MPL. Decked out in his football jersey and way after the players and the fans had left, we recorded this conversation in the media room of the MPL PH Arena, where it was much quieter and we can get ourselves in the zone.

At this point in his career, Hans himself has been with some of the best in the esports field. 

From being a courtside reporter in Season 10, to occasionally doing commentary work in Seasons 11 and 12, as well as doing M-series world championships, Hans now leads every MPL broadcast as the co-host of no less than a GOAT herself, THE Mara Aquino.

His Caster Search batch was composed mostly of household names in Filipino MPL: Francis “OSX” Joses, Chantelle Hernandez, Bridgitte “Brigida” Ramos, JC “Naisou” Rezabek, to name a few.

He tells me that the pioneer caster search batch gave him a lot of learnings.

“I learned that I wasn’t ready,” Hans tells me. 

“Because during that time, I had a strategic plan in mind. Most of the casters who were there were play-by-play. I saw that the talent pool had already a lot of anchors and play-by-play. I play (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang), but I don’t really know the game that much. I told myself, “if there’s a higher chance for me to get in, it’s gonna be through becoming an analyst.”

Hans says, no one wanted to become an analyst at that point in the caster search, which was designed to find the next best voices who will best represent the MPL Philippines scene. 

“If I go to being an analyst, I might just go, I might just make it in. But then it hit me hard that I was like, so far behind. There’s so many things I had to learn that was not enough for just three days of learning.”

 

“I knew from the first day that I wasn’t gonna win,” Hans says. “So while I was there, I’m gonna try to get as much info as I can, so that if they hit me back or something, even if I don’t win, I’ll be ready.”

This shot at the MPL Philippines Caster Search in 2021 was all he banked on, as he nearly gave up on his childhood dreams. “When I was in college, I really wanted to pursue a career in traditional sports. If not sports, I wanted to pursue radio. If not radio, courtside.”

“Esports never crossed my mind before,” says Hans, who said he got a bunch of rejections from some of the Philippines’ biggest campus leagues such as the UAAP and the NCAA.

 

By his third year in college, Hans nearly called it quits for his dream and wanted to just go corporate – until his friends tagged him in an MPL Philippines – an esport he watched since its 4th season.

“At first, I didn’t want to join because I was in the middle of a burnout session. I was trying to heal from it. Ever since first year, I was trying for a bunch of auditions for NCAA and UAAP but I never got in.”

But he managed to get in, and when the Top 32 stage came in, he said, it was one of the biggest shockers of his life.

“I was never called up for any, I never had any email, so I was thinking, is this true? I was crying a lot back then because that was the first confirmation that, ah, okay, I have a place in this field.”

“On my life, this was gonna be the last time I’m gonna cry about something. I’m gonna get to top 8.”

And he did, as part of a batch that has now soared to people’s consciousness as the voices of esports in the country. Hans debuted in the MPL Philippines in Season 10.

“I honestly cry whenever there’s a major achievement in my life, always,” he says. “I was hosting an event for Realme, and then our manager called me to ask where I am. She went to my hosting gig somewhere in Metro Manila, and it was not just her. Rockhart (Karl To) was there, Leo (Dan Cubangay) was there, OSX was there, and then I was like, what are you guys doing here?”

“They broke the news to me in this way. They told me, bad news, you won’t be a caster for the MPL. Good news is, you’re gonna be the first courtside reporter.”

 

The tears fell down, the emotion dawned on him. “It’s nice to feel like I’ve made it to something,” Hans tells me. After several rejections in different leagues, here he is, making his own legendary tower dive to greatness.

From there, it just snowballed. The once unfamiliar person with casting even got to experience the standard MPL Philippines tri-caster rotation: anchor, play-by-play, and analyst – on his first day at the desk.

 

 

“They put me at the desk because everybody else was getting sick and they didn’t know where to get a talent,” Hans tells me, recounting a story he once told me offhand. “For the first time I didn’t know what I was supposed to do… and in addition, I was an analyst on the first series, a play-by-play on the second, and an anchor on the third. And all of those games went to best of 3s.”

From then on, Hans became a regular fixture in some of the most pivotal and most-watched seasons in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports, being part of two world championships, countless playoffs, and even big events for both men’s and women’s MLBB.

By season 13, Hans transitioned from the caster desk to one of his personal first loves: hosting. Now in the lead of every broadcast, Hans and Mara Aquino are a constant presence in every MPL broadcast day, interviewing players and leading off segments before some of the most high-level MLBB action the world sees on a regular basis.

FROM SONAH TO HANS

When Hans entered esports, he was first known as Sonah – known for #SonahAll and #SonahEsports content on social media.

“The reason why Sonah was there was because I did not know at the time that I can join using my real name,” Hans tells me. “So I had to think of, like an IGN. I’m so not used to this! I brainstormed with my friends for 3 minutes, and then I decided to just spell my name in reverse, Snah, it stinks. What if Sonah instead? Okay, it sounds cool.”

But by Season 12, he decided to go back to his real name, Hans Galeria. He says he made this change because he wanted to go and once again pursue his dream of being in traditional sports.

“No one uses an IGN in traditional sports when they do commentary,” he says. 

And in the beginning of 2024, the moment Hans finally waited for had arrived. 

He enrolled in the Masterclass PH sportscasting workshops, led by one of Philippine sports’ most esteemed and respected sports broadcasters, Noel Zarate, who has done local and international broadcasts for various pro sports.

“I really wanted to pursue it ever since last year but there’s always a conflict with my MPL schedule,” Hans says. “As soon as it was mentioned that its on this date and there was no MPL gig, I’mma go.”

It was Mr. Zarate who always prodded Hans to go to his Masterclass workshops, and finally, he was able to get a link to the traditional sports path he always wanted to pursue.

“I’ve made it to traditional sports! It’s like I’m a kid in a candy store, I know what candy that is. I know how that tastes like. I know what I’m gonna get, and I know what I’m gonna do.”

And from there, he got to further learn the intricacies of sports broadcasting, and landed his first traditional sports gig – an alumni league called the Grace Alumni Basketball League, hosted by Grace Christian College, to test things out.

At first, Hans admits, he brought a lot of his esports background – fast-pace, action-packed calls that were literally fast and furious.

“Those were just like 2-3 times and whenever I did it, I felt like they were listening to a horse race instead of a basketball game,” Hans says. 

And over time, Hans was able to distinguish the difference and learned the right pace. “For me, traditional sports is easier than esports in terms of commentary, because in esports, you’re gonna have to think of your thoughts fast. Dead air is like a mortal sin. Two, you need to fix your thoughts because if you miss out on something, the audience will notice you’re making things up. Three, aside from being clear, you need to be fast when doing esports commentary. I was able to experience different roles, so I know how it feels like.”

“When I got into basketball, it was so lax. I would just say.. Taking the lead now is New Ivex… and then he passes it to someone else, like you know, that break? I’m allowed to do that and people won’t think I am stupid or bored or boring. ‘Coz it’s how you’re supposed to do it.”

He eventually landed in the broadcast pool of two up-and-coming leagues: the National Basketball Training Camp or NBTC, and the juniors’ basketball league of the National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA.

Hans and I have been exposed together in different backgrounds of live broadcast: me as a news reporter, he as a basketball anchor. Hans knows full well the importance of letting the natural sound tell a story.

And I definitely can relate. “It was the UST-La Salle game (in the NBTC), and the guy made a shot to get into overtime. I was like, when he made that shot, I just said a few words, and then I went silent for like a good 4 seconds. Because everyone was hugging it out and you can see it in the stream. This feels so free, this feels so lax because I can do things like that.”

“I’m on standby for something I hope I can get,” Hans says, without revealing how big of a deal it is. His face though, beaming with pride, told the entire story.

UNLOCKING HIS SPORTS POTENTIAL

 

 

“When I got into the workshop, I knew slightly what was taught,” Hans tells me, saying that his experiences in esports helped him prepare for the traditional sports leagues.

Mr. Zarate himself has been the mentor of the MPL Philippines Caster Search batches – teaching them the basics of sports broadcasting during their training days.

He also learned what he is strong and weak as a talent in both territories. “I hate anchoring in the MPL, I struggle so much opening a show, trying to balance out my co-casters. But when it’s in basketball, it’s so easy. I don’t understand why I’m feeling this way, but it’s so easy that I point out to someone who’s gonna speak. And then, I’m gonna talk like this. And then I’m gonna be like, “Lance on the three, what a beautiful shot from Lebron James.”

At his young age, Hans still has a lot of things unchecked in his bucket list.

 “I wanna do commentary for the Olympics, dude!” He tells me with a serious yet confident smile, knowing he can take on the world and he is up to the task.

“I felt like I could really dream big because there’s a lot of people who are like, they do their first commentary at the age of what, 45 in the Olympics? So I’m like, you know what, I still have 20 years to catch up. That’s a lot of years,” he says.

“I don’t really pressure myself too much. It will come to me if it’s meant for me. I would also love to do commentary for Handball in Europe. I love handball, and I wanna do commentary for the Premier League because my favorite team’s Manchester.”

“Even though we suck, and I get that, we’ve defeated Liverpool, and that’s a win for me!” Hans says, leaving me none the wiser in his many facets of sports that he knows a lot.

Hans says he’s learning to balance both his esports gigs and his traditional sports career, saying that he once went to the MPL covering multiple basketball games.

 

 

“I was so tired. Yes, it was the time that I’ve done commentary for three basketball games before I went here, and I was asking my talent manager in the MPL that I’ll be late, but I will be there before the show starts. So you know, when I got here, I learned how to shift my energy,” showing the different level of esports and basketball crowds.

Hans tells me that while he enjoys the hosting gig, he sometimes misses the thrill of being on the desk. “I miss working with the other co-talents as well. Our time as hosts on the broadcast are very limited, and if you don’t execute your punchline well, it’s gone. There’s no other time.”

What he does enjoy more though, is the fact that from almost dropping his dream and pursuing a corporate job, these rejections in life redirected him to become one of the few in the country who does both esports and traditional sports as a talent – things he shared in three core pieces of advice to end this story.

“Number one is rejections are not rejections, they’re a redirection,” Hans says. “Rejections suck, like suck so much, like I cried so much about it, but if I did not get rejected multiple times, I might not have been able to go to the MPL. If I did not enter the MPL, I would not have done great in the workshop. If I did not go through that workshop, I might not have landed my first basketball gig. I realized that its not totally a loss, but a redirection.”

“Second, if it’s meant for you, it’s for you. Like, I had a time where I was crying over things I did not get. And then all of a sudden, for a basketball commentary thing, I was not able to get to this week-long event. And then, that event got moved to a later date, and I was called for it. It’s already the way the universe is trying to make it for you, so you don’t have to force yourself into it.”

“The final thing is like, if you are at 40% to start today and you have a performance, and you gave 40% on that performance, then you gave a hundred. Like, there are times when I wasn’t in my best performance, I wasn’t in my best, I wasn’t in the zone. But when you think about it, other people would think that you did okay. And sometimes they’ll say, what you did can be better but you were able to get through it. Other people won’t be able to cross that page. That’s where I learned to be kinder to myself.” 

“If there’s gonna be a number four, always remember the times that you thought that what’s happening to you is impossible. I never thought I would be a voiceover talent for MILO, I never thought I would be part of a national high school basketball training camp. I never thought I would be part of the NCAA. If you told me this four, five years ago, no way I would have believed you.”

 

But Hans, Sonah, or whatever you call him made his adulthood dreams come true – one that he hopes those reading this article can pick up and learn from as I finish this story.