THE TIGER Jins reigned as champions for the third straight year while the Lady Jins settled for silver again at the UAAP Season 79 taekwondo tournament at the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagle gym last Oct. 25.
UST’s taekwondo program boasts the most number of championship titles in taekwondo history: 14 for the Tiger Jins and 10 for the Lady Jins.
Tiger Jins coach Dindo Simpao said it’s time that more UST athletes represent the country in international competitions.
Jasmine Strachan-Simpao, Dindo’s wife and head coach of the Lady Jins, recalled that UST jins used to dominate the national pool.
This year, there are only three Thomasians in the Philippine squad: Abigail Cham, Joaquin Mendoza, and junior Lady Jin Leila Delo.
In the past decade, the UST taekwondo program has produced three Olympians.
Strachan-Simpao herself played in the world’s biggest sporting stage in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 along with former Tiger Jin Donald Geisler, who also qualified in Athens 2004.
Tshomlee Go was the last Thomasian jin in the Olympics when he represented the country in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics.
For Simpao, producing Thomasian Olympians is his ultimate goal.
“Much of our success is anchored in our pursuit of Olympic glory. I’m still running after it,” he said.
Stiffer competition
Under the Simpaos’ tutelage, the Tiger Jins have won 11 titles while the Lady Jins have six.
But with other universities aggressively pursuing top high school athletes, the championships are now up for grabs.
“It’s now everybody’s game,” said Strachan-Simpao.
“It also depends on how our players look at every situation. We are not after the individual medals, what we’re after are the group medals. It’s a team game, plus there are some of the games that are completely out of our control.”
Team captain Juan Miguel Ramos said having a championship mindset gives them an advantage, boosting their confidence in maintaining their hold over the men’s division.
“If one falters, the rest of the team cheers and boosts that person’s morale. We don’t blame each other’s shortcomings. We talk and work it out among ourselves and continue practicing. The bottomline is we need to trust each other,” Ramos said.
While the Tiger Jins have been stellar for the past three years, the women’s team has yet to duplicate its championship it last won in 2014.
Strachan-Simpao said that despite both teams undergoing the same rigorous training twice a day, the team’s performance boils down to mental fortitude.
If one were to ask silver-medalist Marjelle Sy, it is the case of being humbled that prevented them from showing what they truly are capable of.
“Many of us know we could defeat our opponents, but fear first gets in the way. In the end, all we can do is to regret for our losses,” Sy said.
The Lady Jins, who finished with a 4-2 record, could have won the championship if they defeated National University, which finished the tournament with a clean 6-0 card. They fell against the Lady Bulldogs, 3-4.
“It may be a probability [that mindset has affected their performance], but the goal we set every time is to get the championship. It’s getting harder every year to get a podium finish especially now that other teams also now have star players.”
