All Out, All Heart for Alyssa Valdez and the Ateneo Lady Eagles

To all Ateneo volleyball fans, on UAAP Women’s Volleyball Finals Game 2:

Whether you’ll be watching from the arena stands or from your home seats, I pray you cheer your hearts out for the Ateneo Lady Eagles like it’s their last game. Well, for all we know, it can actually be for this season. The better reason why we should go all out for the team we love.

Like many of you who had watched them play all season long up to the playoffs, I am not confident of a win. They’re certainly capable of hoisting another championship trophy but odds were not really in their favor. I certainly miss Ella and Denden on the floor but the two veterans had to go last year and the team was left with weak defenses. I would have loved every game with potential heirs Mich and Kat in it but they were out this season. I witnessed Maddie’s promising bloom but it was unfortunately cut short by an injury. Overall, they had no solid roles with the movements in the line-up, yet with all these factors and a number more I haven’t mentioned, they were still able to pull off a top seeder. And they are at the Finals again. You can attest to it. With all the stumbling blocks, Ateneo Lady Eagles is still nothing short of incredible, only that the team is met with the hungrier, more improved than ever La Salle rivals.

The Lady Spikers definitely deserved that Game 1 win but our girls did not deserve the relative silence of their own crowd. I was frustrated that afternoon in Araneta Coliseum witnessing the sea of blue unmoving against the very supportive green fans. Blue Babble Battalion was even drowned out by Alyfinity members who were the only organized band that delivered the more consistent cheer for the Ateneo. I felt that we already lost halfway through the game. And so the greens knocked us off.

But I forgive the situation. It doesn’t make sense anymore to put the blame around. There were even probably legit reasons why the Ateneo crowd wasn’t loud (and maybe for them, it wouldn’t matter anyway), but for this coming do-or-die game, I know the crowd will bounce back strong as the Lady Eagles will. It’s not just for the team but for the many other Ateneo fans all over the country who would have wanted to see the Lady Eagles live but cannot. It is also, if I may, for the young fans I met last January –  Bakhita, Francine, Charles Darwin, and Marian – of Barangay Concepcion in Arteche, Eastern Samar, one of the country’s farthest corners that is surprisingly a solid Ateneo fanbase. They too will be all out for Ateneo. Shout and cheer for them. I have so much faith in the blue crowd that they will bring a bigger cheer as the Lady Eagles will bring a bigger fight.

Finals Game 2 might be Alyssa Valdez’s last game. It might be Amy’s and Mae’s last game too. I wouldn’t want that to happen. They certainly deserve another chance for the gold, for a final vow at Game 3. I know they will give their best to take that chance and we fans should be at best too.

Yes, I am hungry got a Game 3. I am hungry for Championship No. 3.

But win or lose, the Lady Eagles are already worthy of the highest sports recognition for the epic run they made. Consistent Finals appearance and individuals plums as cherries on top. Alyssa Valdez is even set to receive her third MVP Award, atop all the other medals and titles she garnered. And what I love about them most is that they have inspired a “happy” attitude and culture that made volleyball an even more loved and enjoyed sport in the Philippines. They as a team had made the past years memorable and inspiring and built a foundation that made us fans feel assured of their sustained greatness. A loss wouldn’t have given us the rare 3-peat we wanted but it would leave us with no doubt for their continued success in the future.

The Lady Eagles gifted us with so many remarkable moments that made us fans feel part of an unforgettable history. It’s opportune that for all they have done for us that we gift them with our loudest and deepest cheers, especially for those who will be holding their last ground for us – Mae Tajima, Amy Ahomiro, and the phenomenal Alyssa Valdez. Let’s thank them with our loudest (but happiest) One Big Fight because it is going to be a truly one big fight of the year.

I am hungry for a Game 2 win but  maybe the win is not eveything that mattered. We have celebrated and loved the game of volleyball already, thanks to the #HeartStrong spirit of the greatest volleyball club of our time – our Ateneo Lady Eagles. Together with them, let’s make Game 2 a day to remember by being all out, all heart. But win or lose, it is always the Lady Eagles we choose.

Open Love Letter to Alyssa Valdez

Dearest Alyssa,

Don’t worry. This is about volleyball. This is not about showbiz or an issue I have with how you play (who has an issue, really?). This is about a sport you love and I came to love (after watching Ella de Jesus play back in third year college, kailangan ko talagang maisingit). This is about the sport that we both love and many out there do.

This is about what we can do together in the name of love – our love for volleyball.

I am writing to you to share an experience I had this week that has to do with our beloved sport. But I’ll give you a little context first: I am working as a communications officer for disaster management in a Jesuit NGO. Pretty unusual job, right? But with this work I happen to go around the country with our project officers, to the farthest that we can get, to coordinate rehab projects with disaster-afflicted communities and write stories about them and their progress. Just this week, a few days before your first game in this UAAP season, we went to the eastern edge of the Philippines, in Barangay Concepcion, Arteche, Eastern Samar where there was absolutely no mobile signal, just to grace the blessing of their newly-established piggery and poultry. How did we travel there? 8 hours of land transportation from Tacloban City to Oras, Eastern Samar and an hour of combined habal-habal (extended motorcycle ride), walking in a muddy field, and a boat ride. A total of 9 hours of travel just to see how the community is doing with the project we helped put up with them.

But that was not all that was there to be seen.

In the school we stayed in that night, St. Magdalena of Canossa Catholic High School, I saw some lady students gearing up after class to play volleyball. I learned from their superintendent that the students would be competing for an interschool tournament in February and half-jokingly asked us if we could assist in training them. My companion and I do play volleyball but we are not professionally good enough to train them. I realized that in an isolated place like this, there is obviously no opportunity for a professional training and all the students can do is to work around with the facility and limited equipment they have.

But we played with them. They were very persistent kids, you know. They apparently had much to learn about the sport, such as they didn’t know their right playing positions, but they worked hard to gain their team chemistry. They made do with their old volleyballs, which were so hard to play with that up to this time of writing I still had red spots on my arm after using them. The students also played without good sports attire. They couldn’t afford them the way they are unable to afford their education, the reason why the private-run St. Magdalena’s offer their high school education for free to them! The students didn’t even have uniforms for their upcoming interschool tournament. During training, their superintendent teased them while pointing at us: “Show off your skills now and they might sponsor you!” If I were rich, I’d probably do!

I thought while playing what a wonderful world this would be if only young people like them have the opportunity to hone their skills in things they are passionate about. They deserve it. They deserve brand-new volleyballs. They deserve a better facility. But I know those things do not simply happen considering their situation.

That is the biggest reason why I want to reach you. Maybe not to ask you to train them (citing your distance and your busy schedule), or to give them new volleyballs (not your responsibility at all but they’ll be extremely happy if you do that, I guess), or to help them put up a better training facility (that’s too much actually), BUT to ask you to do what you do best – inspire people.

Now it’s time for you to meet Bakhita, Francine, Charles Darwin, and Marian – your fans. They are members of the school’s volleyball varsity team. We got to play with them. They do watch UAAP volleyball and I am not surprised to know that Ateneo is their most favorite team. They love you, the Lady Eagles’ star, of course. Imagine that this is how far your inspiration to young people gets. To the easternmost side of the Philippines, to what they already call the peripheries.

So before we left their community, I had an idea. You and I are both from Ateneo and although I haven’t had the chance to interact with you when I was still studying, I know I have better chances to reach you. I too have the little privilege of watching your games live while these students are only able to see you on TV. After knowing that they love the game and that they love you, I know I shouldn’t pass on the opportunity to at least help them get their message across to you. And so here it is:

You know I first thought of asking help from you to help them get sponsorship or try to convince you to visit them. But I know these are too much to ask for. Given your grueling schedule atop your academic responsibilities at your final year, I then thought that a few kind words from you might be enough to boost the spirits of the students when they play on February and or in their future games.

Maybe a word or two? I don’t know. But if you get to read this and you decide to respond to their message, we may sit down or you may talk to me and I promise to do my best to send your reply back to them – in form of a letter you make, or a video you shoot, or whatever you may think of. Or maybe even more than a message, but it’s up to you. It will be a small gift for them really, but it will definitely matter to them – on the day of their tournament and event beyond that. Let’s work on this in the name of our love for volleyball and in the name of those who love the sport, like the varsity team of St. Magdalena’s. I shall wait for your answer.

But in any way, I am hoping that the smiles of Bakhita, Francine, Charles Darwin, and Marian will bring you the best of luck on your first game this season – and the games that will follow, all the way to another title! I know that from the moment you earn the trophy once again, these kids will feel like champions too. #HeartStrong, beh.

So long and may the Force be with you!

Love,

Xavier – and the children of Concepcion

P.S.
xavieralvaran@gmail.com
09164320252