AFTER what head coach RJ Ormilla himself described as a “lackluster performance” this UAAP season, the player pool of the UST Lady Shuttlers will be dissolved and replaced effective October.
Ormilla said the team finished the season with a 0-7 card, its worst showing since 1999, because of the team’s lack of determination.
“Hindi sila (players) willing mag-sacrifice sa team. Tapos `yung iba parang tine-take for granted kung ano `yung nakukuha nila, especially `yung scholarship,” Ormilla told the Varsitarian.
All players in the Lady Shuttlers pool will be replaced by UST badminton’s junior pool, which consists of junior and senior high school students, in preparation for Season 81.
Their training sessions will start in late October.
Ormilla, who has been vocal about his low expectations for the team, said he came up with the decision to replace the players at the start of the season.
He said some of his players were not willing to balance their time on their duties on and off the court.
“As a student-athlete, dapat binabalanse [ang responsibilidad]. Hindi dapat puwedeng mamili ng isa lang. Hindi lang basta-basta magpapaalam sa akin ‘coach may exam ako’ pero `di gagawan ng paraan na [makapag-conditioning man lang ng katawan]. Iyan ang ayaw na ayaw ko,” he said.
The team found difficulty in finding replacements for former key player Airish Macalino, who transferred to the University of the Philippines, and veterans Steffi Aquino and Kristine Gaspar, who both exhausted their playing years in Season 79.
To add to the team’s misery, Lady Shuttlers captain Maria Victoria Vizmonte’s knee injury last season took a toll on her performance this year.
“Mayroon siyang history ng injury. Ang nakikita ko lang is mayroon siyang konting pag-iingat sa left knee niya, lalo na kapag kukuha siya ng overhead shot,” Ormilla said.
The hard-lucked Lady Shuttlers crashed to the last seed after succumbing to the University of the East in a 3-2 heartbreaker last Oct. 1.
Since the inception of the tournament in 1995, the women’s team has claimed only one championship, when it defeated Far Eastern University in 2011.
Since then, the team has struggled to make it to the Final Four because of the lack of recruits and “better” badminton programs of other UAAP teams.
Bright spot
Despite the setback, Ormilla commended his male wards for clinching their first Final Four spot since 2012.
The team finished fourth after losing to the Ateneo de Manila University in the semifinals.
“Palagay ko pressure ang nangyari. Kumbaga it’s either nabigatan sila sa responsibilidad nila sa team. Sobrang di nila mahandle. [And] maganda din `yung nilaro ng kalaban,” Ormilla, who was part of the 2012 UST badminton team, said.
The duo of Shuttlers’ captain Kristian Barrios and Miguel Santiago will try to fill in the void left by UST’s prized Mark Sotea and John Edgar Reyes tandem, who had exhausted their playing years.
John Paul Yabut will also have bigger shoes to fill after go-to singles’ player Cris Sanchez dropped out of next season’s tournament to focus on his academics.
While Ormilla was confident of a Final Four appearance next season, he said the team needed to work on keeping its momentum in close matches.
Early in the season, UST came up short in crucial sets against De La Salle University and UP, finishing 2-3 in the respective matches.
“Medyo kulang pa sila kumbaga sa momentum dahil may iilang crucial games sila na nalampasan,” Ormilla said.
