Standing on the shoulders of giants

Last Wednesday was an evening of shock and sadness for the entire La Sallian community. In a close, pulsating basketball game De La Salle lost to  FEU... With only less than a second left, FEU made a three point shot that eliminated La Salle from playing in the UAAP Finals. 

It may be difficult for those who are not “green blooded” to understand the depth of feelings that rise and fall with the fortunes of the Green Archers. My son – Roel – wrote about how it felt the day after which captures these emotions. Like me and his uncles, he grew up La Sallian. He finished grade school and high school in La Salle-Zobel. He was a BA in Literature and MFA in Creative Writing major in De La Salle University.

He now writes fiction as well as sports articles for GoArchers.com. He also does private tutoring for kids and teenagers in creative writing and literature. Together with his mom and sister, they have a writing center (Where The Write Things Are) for children and teens. I have reprinted here part of what he wrote the day after that night:

“The first thing that always catches my eye each time I step out of the elevator on the 9th floor of the Enrique Razon Sports Center and head towards the basketball court are the banners honoring all the past triumphs of the Green Archers and the individuals who have fully exemplified the traits of a Lasallian champion.

The constant pursuit of excellence. The glory won all in the name of a proud institution. The dedication and long hours of hard work exerted for the larger prize. And the dignified grace in both triumph and defeat. Each unequalled marks of a true Lasallian.

I find comfort in knowing that all the courage, effort and talents I was given the pleasure of witnessing on any given game day by the Season 77 De La Salle Green Archers were ceaselessly honed under those same banners. Away from the eyes of external scrutiny, nurtured by nothing more than quiet, burning commitment and solidarity.

These banners do more than serve as hallmarks of past glory and a reminder of the pride we must all carry through any circumstance. They act as constant symbols of a standard to measure up against; a bar set by our alma mater in all disciplines through the rigors of academics, utmost tutelage and a responsibility to give back a hundredfold that which we have been privileged to receive. On a larger scale, it is a burden of the past — of more than a hundred years of storied existence — created by all the captains of industry, beacons of the arts, and pillars in the realm of athletics that came before us. A burden handed and which in turn we all gladly take on.

Inasmuch as this ensures there is no reason to be blinded by the successes we achieve, we can also find no shame in losing to a worthy opponent and fighting the good fight. So that at the end of the day, it is this relentless pursuit along with all the hard work and dedication that truly define us and set us apart.

While it is truly a painful time for both the Green Archers and the Lasallian faithful, more than the strong words of encouragement and comfort we find in each other, it is this drive within, that inextinguishable fire in our hearts sparked by the values espoused by our alma mater which allows us to transcend momentary adversity. Always certain that because this fire never goes out, our better days are always ahead of us. Whether in victory or defeat.

But even before starting to look ahead or find refuge in past success, it is in the present where I can fully appreciate what has been achieved by this La Salle team. While falling short in reaching for the immediate goal set, they remain champions in our eyes. Men amongst boys, giants among men, for always placing character and values ahead of all else.

It all begins with the management that put this team together, and has given us just the beginnings of an era of La Salle basketball which has already produced prestige to equal the amount of support the rest of us bring to every game. Support that is never without the tinge of bravery, always led by our resourceful and ever potent Animo Squad which concretized on Wednesday beyond the banging of drums it is the heart within that proves most deafening.

More than providing resources and attending to every need, the distinguished people that make up the management are the visionary architects who first set the culture of this team of substance, and more than any of us are the first ones to voice encouragement and faith especially during moments of struggle.

By handing the leadership role to Coach Juno Sauler, thereby setting the foundation of a true championship team driven by much more than the pursuit of tangible gains, I know this is a team I can always count on to do us all proud. His relentless pursuit of excellence, which unjustly remains media fodder for those who may not fully understand its context, has been the truest mark of an honorable Lasallian — one whose lead we all find easy to follow even through the most stringent of trials. Harmoniously melding mind and heart, labouring for the perfection of fundamentals that arm his boys for battles waged even outside the confines of the hardcourt, I cannot imagine any other person ably leading us all in our collective chase for continued glory. Even before clinching last year’s title, he already won my unconditional respect.

With the heartbreak and all the basketball plays we can either choose to dissect, analyze or shrug off from Wednesday’s final game, my vision extends just like my reach beyond all that is eventually rendered insubstantial and fleeting — the cheering and the jeering, the euphoria and the agony. And along with my fellow Lasallians who voluntarily labor under the burden of past greatness bestowed by our alma mater, armed with a distinct standard of excellence against which the manner we define our own character and ambitions is set, it becomes quite easy to understand one thing: all that is truly essential, really, remains invisible to the naked eye.

This is who we are, and who we remain to be. Lasallians striving for uncanny greatness, with the dignity of whatever outcome solely reliant on the honor we manage to keep intact during the pursuit. That is the De La Salle way.

Maybe the optimum level of hunger wasn’t consistently there, the vital truth being it takes a different kind of drive to retain a title. Maybe the influx of new talent needs a little more time to be harnessed. Or maybe we all rushed to mistakenly underestimate what we thought would be a relatively weaker field of competition. 

With all the harsh but necessary lessons that need to be learned and taken to heart, it is the little rewards garnered along the way that prove to be the lasting achievements of this particular La Salle team and the community that stands behind it: brotherhood, hard work, courage, faith, and passion.

If the only way to remain a lasting champion is to have ensured you fought and acted like one, even long after the final buzzer, then for every single one of us I’d say mission accomplished.

If in my own struggles I am able to see further, if I am capable of digging deeper, and if I continue to reach beyond that of which others may only dare dream, it is largely because I stand on the shoulders of these giants among men. These champions of our institution and our collective pride.

To the Season 77 De La Salle Green Archers, who have proven beyond doubt to be much greater than 14-strong, I proudly raise my right fist one more time

ANIMO LA SALLE!”

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The full version of this article can be read on GoArchers.com, where it was originally published including more detailed insight on each of the players and the rest of the coaching staff.

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