WHEN a sports team (or in the case of the Ateneo Blue Eagles) goes through a team building ‘boot camp’ in preparation for a tournament or upcoming season, one of the primary objectives is for the players to bond and develop a form of understanding and chemistry.
The team building lasts several days with follow up sessions in the intervening weeks.
And a part of this is the toughening up process where a team goes through rigorous training and even cross training in other sports. I have shared a video of the Philippine Men’s National Football Team playing foot tennis while in preparation for the 2010 Suzuki Cup.
While there is no record of our current Filipina wunderkind Alex Eala doing cross training, tennis players usually engage in jump rope and cycling among others for high intensity interval conditioning (among others) to mirror the stop-start nature of the game.
When the Ateneo Blue Eagles went into the shallow waters on the beaches of Dipaculao, in the early afternoon of June 8, it was to train without putting stress on their joints. Water buoyancy supports body weight and prevents impact injuries. Water resistance helps build muscle strength as well.
The waters were calm (and that can be checked on tide-forecast.com) that afternoon, but sadly, two rogue waves swept the team and took the lives of Divine Adili and Rene Baterbonia.
The team was briefed on the rip currents and how to combat it. But was it adequate? And sadly, safety devices for the activity were woefully inadequate.
In the wake of the tragedy, many non-sports fans wondered why train in the water? Hindi naman Navy Seals training ang pinasok nila kung hindi basketball. So, what does running in the water have to do with basketball especially in an area such as Dipaculao? Why not train in the pool where it is safer?
They were in Dipaculao not just to train in the water, but there were other activities.
Furthermore, Ateneo isn’t the only school-based team that trains in the shallow water of beaches. You might be surprised which teams do or have done that.
Let me go back to that inane ‘Navy Seals’ remark.
While in preparation for the 1999 Brunei Southeast Asian Games and the qualification for the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics, our national taekwondo team did exactly something that approximates Navy or even Marine training.
A few of the members of the national team were from the Navy and Marine branches and they were tasked in preparing a training program that approximated their training-and get this-for eight days.
Yes, every single member of that team including the coaches participated.
They were dumped some distance from the shore and had to swim back to the beach. Not everyone knew how to swim so there were trained servicemen to assist them in case of trouble.
They even had to rappel down a wall lizard-style meaning headfirst with a rifle on their backs!
Now what does that have to do with taekwondo?
It was meant to toughen the team up as well as bond through adversity and hardship.
The result?
Taekwondo had the biggest haul for any Philippine team to the 1999 SEA Games with four gold, four silver and six bronze medals. As for Sydney, four of our taekwondo practitioners qualified.
Training camp in Dipaculao for the Ateneo Blue Eagles ended immediately after two teammates drowned. They were not able to achieve most of the training objectives for obvious reasons.
But one crucial aspect was achieved albeit in a most unexpected and painful way-the team bonded in a shared tragic experience for everyone. They lost no one to defections. In fact, they are often together on and off the court. They feel more at ease with each other because no one outside the team remotely knows what that tragedy felt like.
Now, their physical training has begun.
As for those who claim that they should not be playing because of the ongoing process, well, the sitting Vice President has a number of stacked legal cases against her. And there is an impeachment hearing going on. Does her office stop what it is doing?