WHAT difference a year makes.
Around this time a year ago, Justine Roy Reganot, Bjay Quinawayan and Reidge Magallanes saw another season of their basketball stints with Malanday Elementary School come to yet a disappointing end.
They’ve been part of their varsity basketball program since the past year but have never made it past the district meet.
They love their sport, mind you, there’s no question of desire here. But somehow, they were still underachieving.
“Magkaka-team po talaga kaming tatlo sa basketball nu’ng una,” said Reganot, MES Boys’ Sepak Takraw team captain while pointing to the other two vital cogs of their campaign during the closing ceremonies of the Milo Little Olympics 2017 in SM Masinag.
“Pero umayaw na po kami sa basketball nu’ng pasukan kasi wala naman pong nangyayari sa amin du’n (laughs),” added Reganot, who together with Quinawayan, watched at the sidelines as Magallanes received his Most Outstanding Athlete in the Elementary Division for Sepak Takraw.
Tired of warming the bench and the early exits, the three chose to quit the basketball team. They closed the door on one sport, but another one came knocking not long after.
“Biglang nag-announce na lang po si sir Manny (Tardio) sa flag ceremony na kailangan niya po ng players sa Sepak Takraw,” recalled Quinawayan, and out of jest they signed up right then and there. “Sabi po namin, sige bahala na, try lang natin.”
Now under the tutelage of many-time NCR representative coach and multiple Palarong Pambansa titlist mentor Mariano “Manny” Tardio, that seemingly impulsive decision would turn their fates around overnight.
Though their route to success was already laid out, nobody said it would be smooth sailing.
They had to go through rigorous training everyday after class, whole day on Saturdays and a quick session after morning mass on Sundays. They had to live and breath Sepak Takraw even if they were neophytes in the sport. The boys gladly obliged and are now part of the five players who remained from a pool of 15.
It was also their first time to enter a tournament as prestigious as the Milo Little Olympics, so they were a little shaky during their opening match. They managed to eke out a win even after trailing most of the match en route to an unbeaten run and a gold medal.
There’s a lot of lessons, they say, that can be imbibed from their experience. But apart from humility, hard work and perseverance, it is the choice to improve as an athlete and embark on new challenges that can catapult one to succeed.
“Siguro ang masasabi namin sa ibang atleta, ‘di naman ‘yung isport na una mo sinalihan, hanggang du’n ka na lang habambuhay. Huwag dapat makuntento na lang,” said the MVP Magallanes, while holding his school’s 4th place overall trophy for a photo op. “Kailangan, mag-try ka din ng iba. Kasi malay mo, doon ka pala sa ibang sport magiging mahusay.”