It has been a while since my last blog. This may not seem unusual with my blogging pattern but considering the blog-worthy events in the past few weeks, even I myself am surprised why it took me so long to write this one. Blogger's block perhaps? Well whatever it is, this is my attempt at putting a stop to it.
Having gone back to UPLB, I am once again part of the exclusive circle that is the IC PACSiklaban team. This time however, I am on the opposite end on the track. I am.. wait for it.. A COACH.
This is really new to me. I have always seen my coaches back then as very competent, responsible and for lack of a better word, terrifying individuals. Let's face it. I'm barely one of three things. The worst thing here is although I'm not the head coach, I am the eldest of the full time coaches. That only means one thing--I have to be the responsible adult. To me, nothing else can get more terrifying than that.
Eight kids. This year we have entrusted the PACS legacy to eight kids who we have to train, feed and look after. These kids are the cream of the crop, the top of the heap, the kings of the hill.. I've ran out of idioms but you get the idea. So how hard can our job be?
Well if you don't already know, the people who came before us cast a pretty big shadow and very huge shoes to fit into. The thing is, at the end of the season, the team always ends up filling those shoes. Always. So the pressure is on us. It is our duty to help these kids grow into the perfect fit. And grow they did.
Throughout the entire season, there were but few moments of disappointments and a hell lot more surprising sparks of brilliance. For several days, the kids have been getting perfect scores in Inorganic Chemistry. But in an unfortunate twist of fate, their inorg coach jinxed it by bragging too much about it. Minsan lang naman naputol yung perfect streak. Anyhow, I've learned my lesson: Glowie, be humble.
The kids and us, coaches have grown to be a family. A wee bit dysfunctional perhaps, but a family nonetheless. I think one thing we did differently is that more than anything, we made it a point to be there for the kids emotionally. I have grown to be their Mommy G (sometimes Mommy J or Jeje Mom). Tinay is their "masungit na tiyahin" while Claire (also Tyang Rose) is their "mabait na tiyahin". Tinaypay and Clairebear, by the way, were the babies of the team when I was captain. This experience wouldn't have been as fulfilling if we weren't in it together.
Okay, let's fast forward to days before PACSiklaban. We've always known that defending the championship will not be easy. Little did we know that our toughest trial will come just days before. To be honest, I don't know how we pulled through it but having overcome it, I feel like we've already emerged champions.
But of course, we are who we are. We want the literal win, not just the proverbial one.
Because we had to bring the trophy and defend it, I was tasked to carry it home the day before and bring it to the venue the following day. I slept with the trophy that night and I was a tad too nostalgic about it. I remembered the very first time the trophy came to our possession. I was part of the team back when Ate Mich was captain. The following year, I became captain and we rallied to keep it. I believe there was a picture of Ate Mich passing it on to me. The year after that, I came back to watch the contest and while I only stood on the sidelines, I felt the pang all the same when it slipped away from us.
Nevertheless, I had full confidence that it's someday going to find it's way back to the dusty cabinets of IC DO. And it did. It took two years but it did.
Now back to us. Moments before the contest, the kids arrived at the venue with the big shoes that they have now grown to fit into. We had little kids on our team. Little, literally. I was worried they'd go Pitch Perfect on us and disqualify us for recruiting high school kids. But then again, the other teams looked like post doc fellows and that should be worse than having kids in the team. I kid, I kid. But seriously, what is it? Must be something in the hot elbi water, right?
The shoes were a perfect fit I was sure but we still fell a little short. I don't know. Maybe we wore Louboutins when we should have been wearing Nike's. For a several questions, we were playing catch up with the other teams. There were times we ranked fourth and I was terribly worried they'd give up in the middle of the fight. But I should have known better not to question the heart of a champion. The kids held on and at the end of it all, we managed to place second.
UP Diliman placed first but we sure didn't make it easy for them. It was one hell of a fight and for that I am and will always be proud of my kids.
The Perpetual Trophy is now sitting on someone else's dusty cabinet.. But I have no doubt in my mind that someway, somehow, it will find it's way home to us...
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Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld
:)
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