About Time

In Philippine sports, one learns to be grateful for every piece of good news - no matter how small or late in the game it comes. Over the years, nothing much has changed since I last trained and competed for flag and country. But despite the issues, the lack of support, or the politics that continue to hound Philippine sports; to be part of it remains a commitment that athletes embrace.

Less than five weeks to go before the Guangzhou Asian Games and yet many athletes still have not had the opportunity to train or compete abroad. National Sports Associations (NSA) that have the means to send their athletes and coaches abroad for training fare much better than those that depend largely on the support of the Philippine government through its various agencies.

The much coveted international training and exposures are still among those at the top of every athlete's wish list. Still, one of the many things I learned in all those years as an athlete, it was that at the heart of it all was the love for the sport.

As another major event approaches, I wish all athletes especially those in the sports I am and have been part of, the best of luck.

Philippine Rowing Association
The athletes who are competing at this year's Asian Games continue their training at the La Mesa Dam. Their competitors like the Iraqi rowers are training with the U.S. Team while others have been training in Europe for months now. Despite whatever disadvantages that present, the rowers are doing their best (like always) to prepare for the tough races that loom ahead.

Philippine Dragon Boat Federation
At one point the dragon boat team mulled pull-out from the RP Asiad delegation. I had an opportunity to talk with Mr. Ilagan about it and he told me they will not do it if they can help it. They have long waited for the approval of their request to train in LMD. The water there is much similar to the waters of the race course at the Guangdong International Rowing Centre, which I had the chance to see at the Asian Junior Rowing Championships last July.

Their request was recently approved. And they were given ten days to train at LMD before the "qualifying" time trials. That time trial was supposed to happen earlier today. I really hope that both men and women's teams successfully equalled or surpassed whatever time they were supposed to beat. If they did, they would be able to continue their training at LMD until before the Asian Games.

Wushu Federation of the Philippines
At last, the national wushu-sanshou athletes are finally leaving for their training at Shanxi province in China. They were supposed to have a 45-day training there but delays in their departure left with much less than that. It would not have mattered much if their Chinese coach was still around to train them. But he left months ago, leaving an Asiad bound team training on their own. As seasoned athletes, they did what they had to do to prepare. I sure hope, and I'm sure they do too, that all those training will be enough to win the much coveted Gold.

At the end of the day, all athletes who compete for flag and country are heroes. It does not matter if they win or lose the gold, silver, or bronze. Those who know what they experience and do for the love of sport would always think of them as winners.

Mabuhay ang atletang Pilipino!

URCC XII (Supremacy)

Eduard and Kevin are up against Elorde MMA fighters. There's no doubt in my mind that those two will definitely make their respective fights interesting and remarkable. Go Team Lakay!

Touching Base: On Fear and Fighting Regardless of Fear

Coach Mark: Ang mas magagaling na fighters yung mga nakakaramdam ng pinakamatinding hirap at pagod pero lumalaban pa rin.
Jerz: Nakakaramdam ka pa rin ba ng kaba o takot coach?
Coach Mark: Oo naman. Normal yun. Manok nga na sinasabong kinakabahan din, tao pa kaya? Mas dapat akong mag-alala kung hindi ako nakakaramdam ng kaba.
(L-R: Mark, Jerz, Eduard, Coach Mark)
It's nice to touch base. It's nice to see people again and learn that so many things have changed yet remained the same. I think this just shows that the essential things are there. Life is fluid and we all flow with it but we flow bringing that essence with us. We evolve, we grow, we conquer, we might fail, we stand up, but at the end of the day, we have changed. But we are still the same.

This week is officially the beginning of my "touch-base-with-Team Lakay" mode. The Sanshou national team that trained in China for five months is back, which means Mark is back. That's one core member back.

Mark won the gold in the 65Kg weight category of the Asian Wushu Championships in Macau held last May 13-16. Coach Mark said it took a lot of will for Mark to get that gold because he was competing with an injured left knee. I could just imagine how hard that was. But he did it anyway.

Just recently also, Eduard shared to me the happy news that he graduated already. For all of us in the core group, that's an achievement that we are all proud of. Everyone who knows Eduard is aware of the tough choices he had to make to pursue this dream. In the end, he had to leave the national team so that he can finally finish his studies.

Then, there's Coach Mark who's steering the entire team. It's funny that someone who goes by a ring name such as "The Machine" can be all heart. There's been too many instances already that we've seen this but it doesn't fail to inspire us to continue what we do despite the individual and collective challenges that we face.

Coach Mark and I talked yesterday about the team's plans. We talked about the lessons they learned from the Asian Wushu Championships and how these takeaways can be optimized to improve the team. But more importantly, we talked about fighting on the ring, the heart of the fighter, the fear that a fighter feels, and the will to fight anyway.

Sixty Seconds' Worth of Distance Run

I just had this sudden longing for 24 hours dedicated to sloth-like existence. I am thinking empty calendar, no expectations, no responsibilities, and no rush. Just slow, blissful minutes of nothingness.

But right now, that is just an imaginary state. It is Saturday and I am up and about for another round of meetings for the upcoming Wushu national championship. While doing that, I am silently berating myself for not having started reviewing the FISA rules yet. Barely three weeks before jury duties and I still have not opened the book even just to pretend making an effort to read.

It appears that April is definitely NOT a slow month. Work. Running. Wushu. Rowing. FISA. Capoeira. Futsal. And of course, more importantly, those advocacy projects that are in the pipeline.

So, what is there to do when there is just too many things to do? Nothing much, except smile, breathe, and make that sixty seconds' worth of distance run.

While on the Lei Tai

Coach Mark to Bibo: Tayo ka lang, kahit pagod na pagod ka na, pilitin mong tumayo. Huwag mong ipapakitang pagod ka na. Isipin mo palagi, sarili mo ang kalaban mo dito. Sarili mo lang.

aBout not meant to be

Coach Rene told me last night that I am not competing this March 1 because I have no opponent in my weight category. I swear, that was such a happy news for me because I have been mulling for days already how to best tell him that I do not think it is such a good idea for me to compete at this time.

Foremost reason actually was that "wake-up call" (well, the kind that oozes with bluntness and sarcasm) from my brod Nathan who could not have made any clearer why it was pretty stupid of me to agree to fight without first knowing what I was up against. Add that to Coach Mark, Eduard and Mark's skepticism when I told them separately about my decision and I gradually began to doubt my "unwise" decision to just say yes to the invitation to fight.

There were several lessons learned from this experience:

1. Never say yes unless I have all the details.

2. Never assume. When someone says the fight is Kickboxing...never assume that he really means kickboxing...because maybe, he means Muay Thai.

3. Trust what I know. When I know that one month is such a short time to learn a skill and be good at it, then I should trust that nugget of wisdom learned from years of competing. It could be a different sport, but the same principles apply. There is no way I can pick up new skills and be good at them (especially when those skills involved using my knees and elbows to strike an opponent) with only a month to prepare (i.e. a month of thrice a week training).

4. Never go into a fight from a disavantaged position. Oo nga naman...I was about to just go jump on the ring stripped with one of my core skills. As Nathan said, it is no problem if I am competing for Sanshou, which I am not. Instead, I am going into a fight where I cannot, absolutely not, use whatever takedown skills Sanshou people basically have.

I have been hoping to tell Coach Rene that I want out from this fight. However, part of me (argh! that stubborn part of me) was against backing out. I already said yes and I was finding it really hard to renege on that commitment.

The other part of me naman, that sane and reasonable part, was wishing and praying that I would muster the will to tell the coach that I am not doing it. I guess, that wishing and praying hard part really worked. Sabi nga ni Paolo Coelho, “When you want something badly enough, the whole Universe conspires to give it to you." Amen.

"...last three minutes of torment..."

Ok. I just had to smile when I heard Andre said it. We were both on the ring getting ready for yet another round with the pads. I found the remark funny because, for one, the words penetrated the force field I was in at that precise moment. It's a rare chance that something can actually get through to me when I'm in that zone. Secondly, it was kind of nice to hear someone actually say it.

Andre, like me, just resumed training. But unlike me, he hasn't been gone six months. Six months of sedentary lifestyle can really take its toll. And I've been feeling the effects of inactivity since day one of my "comeback".

It's close to two weeks now since I started training again. I'm still feeling all these aches and pains. And I'm totally convinced that i'm in worse shape than i previously imagined. I know it'll take more time for me to feel remotely closer to the shadow of my former fit self.

The only thing that keeps me going is the certainty that this lousy feeling will pass. I'm visualizing me doing all these crazy stuff sans the agony of barely surviving each round. In the meantime, I'll just have to endure every minute of torment because I know, at the end of each training day, I'll keep coming back.