League of extraordinary coaches

AS THE final buzzer sounded, signaling the triumph of the UST Growling Tigers over top-seeded Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, yellow jerseys piled up at the center of the Araneta Coliseum to give each other victory rides and hugs.
But behind those cameras that closed in on the Tigers and head coach Pido Jarencio after they won the coveted UAAP Men’s Basketball Championship, there were a chosen few of quiet but formidable members of the UST Tigers coaching staff who also deserved recognition.

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The more the merrier
The Tigers were trained by seven assistant coaches, in separate fields: Senen Dueñas (offense), Beaujing Acot (defense), Manny Calipes (physical fitness), Edwin Escobar (weight training), Rabbi Tomacruz (liaison officer and statistician), Boy Sablan (academic manager), and Dr. Raul Palma (team psychologist).
“There is chemistry among us since we are all Thomasians, making no room for doubts,” Jarencio told the Varsitarian.
The fates seemed to have conspired to make Jarencio and his armada of assistants to be the messiah that would end the Tigers’ title drought. Only intending to enroll his daughter in the University’s Nursing program, Jarencio happened to bump into Fr. Ermito De Sagon, O.P. Institute of Physical Education and Athletics (IPEA) Director, who then invited him to coach the Tigers.
Jarencio then personally picked his coaching team.
“God pushed me back to basketball,” he said. I decided not to play anymore when I retired as a professional player in 2002, but I gave coaching a shot because I love the University.”

Tiger attack
In basketball, offense is a must since the team that scores the most wins. And this is the job for coach Senen Dueñas, a former fullback soccer player.
Instead of an up-tempo game, Dueñas prefers a deliberate half-court set.
“We teach them the basic offensive patterns, but we also allow them to integrate their individual moves,” Dueñas told the Varsitarian.
The basic offensive patterns for the Tigers include isolation, two-man games, and backdoor plays. “But for the Tigers, it all boils down to a two-man game, it is easier to attack because one could just pass the ball to anyone who is free,” he said.
Dueñas makes use of the Tigers’ height advantage by milking the post. He said it is the most reliable offensive play since the players know how to use their tall frames to their advantage.
“There are many players in the UAAP, like University of the East’s Marcy Arellano, that are weak in defending post plays,” he said. “And our post players like Jervy Cruz are quicker and stronger, creating mismatches.”
Dueñas said the Tigers also rely on crisp ball movement to look for mismatches in match-ups. They also use hand screens to force up shooters, like Jojo Duncil, for mid-range jumpers.

Go! Defensa!
If offense wins games, it is defense that wins championships.
If there was one coach who was most agitated in UST’s Game 1 last-second defensive melt-down against the Eagles, it was Tigers’ defensive coach Beaujing Acot.
“I was disappointed because I made it clear that the defense should be there until the final second,” Acot told the Varsitarian.
As the team’s defense preacher, Acot prefers the zone defense, rather than man-to-man defense, because it forces opposing players to shy away from the shaded area. The Tigers also use half-court and full-court traps to force turnovers and chip away valuable seconds from their opponents’ shot clock for offensive sets. Acot said he tries to stick to simple defensive sets, because players tend to get confused with complex defensive patterns.
“If they (opponents) make a field goal, we will try to get even. If they miss, it’s better,” said Acot, a Tiger point guard in 1994. “We also play defense by crashing boards for second-chance points.”
To prove that defense wins championships in Game 3, the Tigers covered the Eagles’ main man, JC Intal, forcing him to miss potential game-winning shots in regulation and overtime.

Fit to fight
Even if the Tigers had the best offensive and defensive sets, everything would have gone to waste if they were not physically fit to execute any play on the hard court.
Health and conditioning assistant coach Manny Calipes focused on developing the speed, strength, and endurance of the players through regular running and jumping exercises, to ensure that the players could withstand the rigors of a fast-paced, 40-minute college ballgame.
Aside from these exercises, the Tigers also do weightlifting and sit-ups to improve conditioning.
“When they got sick, they were quick to recover because of conditioning,” Calipes said.
The weight-training program of assistant coach Edwin Escobar focuses on the Tigers’ upper-body strength. The program included plyometrics, consisting of muscle exercises such as push-up and jumping drills. Other sports such as swimming, boxing, and ballroom dancing were also included.

Keeping track
A healthy body leads to a healthy mind? So asst. coach Boy Sablan made sure that the Tigers’ healthy bodies are accompanied by healthy minds.
When stalwart Jemal Vizcarra red-shirted during UAAP Season 68 due to academic deficiencies, it served as a warning to other varsity players to prioritize their studies or suffer the consequence of not playing for their beloved University.
A player would be given a certain sanction depending on his academic deficiencies. He can be relegated to Team B, or worse, even dropped from the Tigers’ roster.
Sablan also keeps track of the players’ grades and excuse letters for the players’ professors should the players incur an absence due to an official game.
“If they do not want to study, it’s goodbye!” Sablan said.
The players’ eligibility records are also with Sablan, enabling him to monitor the players’ qualifications to avoid what happened to De La Salle University cagers last season, when two Archers were found to have submitted forged Philippine Education Placement Test records.
For the Tigers’ statistics and scheduled interviews, coach Rabbi Tomacruz, the teams’ liaison officer, keeps track of them. He also calls the shots for Team B and other Growling Tiger trainees.
“I play a crucial role because statistics shows the areas where we need improvement and strengths we should maintain,” said Tomacruz, also a former PBA cager like Jarencio.

Overall development
Aside from the physical training that the Tigers endured, the psychological fitness of the team was ensured by Dr. Raul Palma, the team psychologist.
“We decided to develop their psychological fitness and motivate them to fight because it is only through it that you can push them play at their best,” Palma said.
Dr. Palma does this by instilling school spirit upon the players.
“We do not start trainings until they memorize the UST hymn,” Palma said. “One by one, I made them sing.”
Sessions on personality development, tenacity, resiliency, focus, and camaraderie were also given to the team, including the how-to-block-the-crowd formula. This was later seen evident on Dylan Ababou and Jun Cortez as they sank two crucial free throws that salvaged the UAAP title for UST.
“During practice, I always tell them to play as if it is already an official game,” Palma said. “But in actual games, I made them think that they are just practicing. Palma calls this “transference,” which is the ability to switch situations.
That the Tigers were able to overcome countless obstacles before clawing their way back to UAAP supremacy was nothing short of a miracle. But there was also science to it. Aside from tremendous crowd support, coach Jarencio and his three Ps, the Tigers also had to credit the assistant coaches who helped make them champions—in body, heart, mind, and spirit!

By Jamaila S. Cahilig and Ma. Jeanette P. Cordero



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