Our Team

Story

Our Team

They say the happiest days are in high school. I can attest to that.

When we formed our volleyball team in our section in our Physical Education class, we never thought that we will be the champion in the freshmen class. Though we did not beat any of  the upper classes from the 2nd year to the seniors, we gave them a run for the title.

But volleyball is only the second  love of Filipinos. Our first love was basketball. And from volleyball we raise the ante to basketball.

To tell you the truth, I am a poor basketball player. That is why I played only as a filler when everybody “ graduates.” And nobody is there to play. I dribbled poorly so I stood as a filler guard. My team will laugh If I can get some of those jump shots and long shots that I can do occasionally.

I have my team’s first five. They are Rey, the spitfire alias Florencio; Jesse, the center alias Mumar; Tuloc, the long shot artist; E or Eulogio, the All Star player; Pacifico, our serious man and guard and Dabay, the short punky guard or sa Tagalog --ang Taong bato.

Rey is a short guy like me.  He was our captain ball of our volleyball team. But he is very good and fast. He is very good shooting, from the long distance, jump shot or as a lay-up artist. He loves to imitates the likes of Bernardo or Florencio and later Jaworski of UE. Pero pag-minalas walang shot kahit isa.

Jesse is an all around player. He can shoot, drive or make impossible lay ups. He is tall at around 5’7 or 5’8. He was never a part of our volleyball team, but he joined out team. He never joined the high school team although he was good. He honed his skills in the half court and our games at the full courts. He later became a player in college and got a scholarship for that.

Tuloc, as he was called in Ilokano was a long shot artist. He can also shot at any distance and drives occasionally when he is
not heavily guarded or if assisted by Rey or Jesse. Siya ang pagsinwerte, nakakaiskor ng mahigit bente! Sabi nga namin- "walang aling"

E, is a born player. He is all around. He can shot, drive and guard anybody. He and Tuloc are our tallest player. But he is lanky and thin and that is why our opponents  always misjudged him.

At first they will make fun of him but later will take him seriously when he does the damage with his shooting or guarding. He is a neighbor of mine and a school mate. He joined our team when we starting at the half court near Rey's neighborhood.

Pacifico, is our tallest guard. He was also in our volleyball team. He is the front line stopper because he was tall. He occasionally shoots and makes the shot when needed. He has a poor eyesight and wear glasses but does not impede him to play his best. But he was a good guard and our adversaries gives him respect because he is good at what he does. And he plays clean and not prone to shoving and dirty games.

Dabay is our destroyer. He is small and bulky and like a bulldozer, everybody gives way when he drives. But he is a guard and he does his chores like Pacifico. That is why we call him ang taong bato. Tumatalsik ang nababanga niya at kahit sinong dumikit sa kanya.

Well, because I cannot play, they made me their coach. Maybe because I am loud and shout orders. So in short, they call me “coach”. Like the way they call me as the volleyball coach of our freshman class in high school.

So during summer time we play and go around the whole district to compete. They learned to respect us as a team and gave us resounding applause.

Only once we almost went into a fight. And as usual, It was me again who got angry because they cheated us. But nothing happened because the old folks – who happened to know me came to our rescue when the whole neighborhood almost lyched us and asked for forgiveness because they know they cheated us of the time so they can win.

I respected the neighborhood because they showed us their sense of fairness and hospitality.

For three years., we played for friendship and camaraderie and for fun.

That is our neighborhood team! My team.

****************