IGNORING the opening-day glitch that struck his male stringers, coach Dindo Simpao gathered his team in a huddle, stared at their faces, and gave the reminder: the goal was the gameplan.
And for the heirs of a dynasty that has long conquered the law of averages, the response was emphatic, if not decisive, as the UST taekwondo teams claimed their fifth and fourth straight titles in the men’s and the women’s division to reaffirm their status as the UAAP’s best fighting units.
“Our goal was to get all the championships,” Simpao told the Varsitarian. “I told them that no matter how tough the odds were, we’re capable of winning it.”
Smooth-sailing
The Lady Jins defined the norms of controlled combat by demolishing their opponents with impunity en route to a historic ‘four-peat’.
Season 69 MVP Ma. Rainee Rose Arca, national team standout Esther Marie Singson, and old reliables Sarah Arellano, Aphrodite Brillantes, Kathleen Valenzuela and Caryn Pilongo, took the vanguard’s role in ensuring UST’s triumph.
True enough, the Lady Jins, who made ripples in the National and All-Women’s championships prior to their UAAP onslaught, underscored Simpao’s billing with a pound-for-pound domination of all weight divisions for a flawless 3-0 slate.
Buoyed by her awesome stoppage of her counterparts from Ateneo de Manila University (Ateneo) and Far Eastern University (FEU) in the preliminary round, Arca subdued a stubborn Jesufil Pedroza of the University of the Philippines (UP) in her last match to eventually put the icing on UST’s championship cake.
Arca, irritated due to Pedroza’s vicious punching tactics, eluded the distraction and aggressively kicked her way to the middleweight gold via superiority rule.
“She kept punching my throat in an effort to frustrate me, and it worked. I got angry at the referee for allowing her (Pedroza) to get away with it, but I still continued fighting,” Arca told the Varsitarian.
Under World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) rules, a player, after a sudden-death stand-off, is declared the winner via superiority if, according to the judges, she had been the more assertive fighter. Going into the extra session, Arca led, 3-2.
Aside from displaying sheer guts, Arca credited her win to the rigorous training the Lady Jins underwent in preparation for their UAAP crusade.
Meanwhile, beleaguered 2005 SEA Games gold medalist Singson found solace in Simpao’s advice.
“He told me to just focus, have faith in myself, and play my best in every fight,” Singson said.
The results spoke for themselves as Singson unleashed a last-minute counter-45 attack to nip FEU’s Precious Malit, 6-5, before whipping Ateneo’s Pauline Angeles, 7-1, in the preliminary round. She then made mincemeat of UP’s Ronalyn Ramos, 7-1, in her final bout to cop the gold in the featherweight division.
UAAP veteran Arellano only needed 30 seconds to cap her flyweight bout with a 7-0 bashing of Ateneo’s bet. Although Arellano wound up with a silver, her will to meet Simpao’s expectations factored greatly in her performance.
Meanwhile, Brillantes, who tore an anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during a training session last year, showed no signs of rustiness after a six-month hiatus and came up with a bridesmaid finish.
No fluke
While the Lady Jins breezed past their opponents for the title, the Tiger Jins underwent an acid test of sorts, losing its first match against darkhorse FEU before clawing back in the homestretch to retain the title via a superior quotient.
Refusing to wilt at the expense of vastly-improved FEU and University of the East, the Tiger Jins endured the departure of their three mainstays””Olympian Tshomlee Go, Alex Briones and Juan Mendoza””to keep the men’s diadem on their head.
“Losing to FEU was painful, but I told them (Tiger Jins) not to despair because the tournament is far from over,” Simpao said. “I instructed them to treat every match as a championship.”
Inspired by Simpao’s words, the Tiger Jins set its FEU debacle aside and pressed on its titular bid anew, mauling UP (7-0) and Ateneo (6-1) before edging a gritty UE (4-3) to emerge as the most unfazed squad heading into the make-or-break FEU-UE tussle. A victory by the Recto-based Jins then automatically merited UST the championship by virtue of a higher winning margin.
But for Simpao, bagging the title was more than relying on quotient system.
“It was entirely a mental game because they (Tiger Jins) won not only becauase the breaks of the game went our way but because they are also motivated to exceed their limits,” Simpao said.
Overcoming first-fight jitters, lightweight silver medalist Gershon Bautista took Simpao’s advice to heart, recovering quickly from the psychological wounds the Tiger Jins suffered from the more seasoned FEU crew in their debut fight.
“After hearing coach Dindo’s words of encouragement, we realized that a low morale has nothing to do with a champion team,” Bautista said.
On another note, Simpao stressed the momentum-shifting role of Jason Strachan and Archie Antonio as the last two men in the Tiger Jins rotation that lifted them to a nerve-wracking 4-3 victory against UE.
“I don’t want them to believe in something that they cannot achieve,” Simpao said. “I set goals but at the end of the day I make sure everyone embraces these goals.”
