To Lady Eagles, heart-strong means ‘if you believe, you win’

MANILA, Philippines - When Ateneo’s Thai coach Anusorn Bundit said the Lady Eagles can beat powerhouse La Salle in the UAAP Season 76 women’s volleyball finals, he wasn’t merely giving a pre-duel rah-rah statement to embolden his underdog crew.

He sincerely believed in it.

“I say if you believe, you can do it. You play happy, you can do it. You believe to win, you can win. I talk to players everyday to believe they can win,” said Bundit.

His unwavering faith in the Lady Eagles was rewarded two weeks later. His overachieving wards bucked the odds and did the improbable: Beat the erstwhile unbeaten Lady Spikers thrice in four games in the finals to score a breakthrough title for the Katipunan-based university and end their rival’s three-year reign.

Fondly called “Coach Tai” by the players, Bundit helped turn the season around for an Ateneo team that’s rebuilding following the graduation of five key players from 2013 with his intense training and psychological tactics.

“Malaking factor talaga ang pagdating ni coach Tai. Kung 100 percent, 110 percent siya (Coach Tai’s arrival was a big factor for us. If we’re gonna rate it with 100 percent as the highest, I’d say he’s at 110 percent),” said team captain Alyssa Valdez after their 25-23, 26-24, 25-21 victory that crowned the Lady Eagles new queens of the UAAP.

Bundit made the Ateneans embrace the mantra “heart strong” all season long and constantly gave them props.

“Hindi siya nagsasawa na -ipush kami, sasabihin niya na you’re a good player, na you can do it, if you believe you can win, you will win. So bakit ikaw magda-doubt sa sarili mo kung yung coach mo nagtitiwala sa iyo? (He never stops pushing us, giving us confidence. So on our part, with coach’s vote of confidence, there’s no reason for us to doubt ourselves),” said Valdez.

The now-familiar running dance Bundit was executing to celebrate a great point by his wards? That’s all part of his psy techniques.

“Players saw me running, players happy. Psychology,” Bundit said.

“Yung mga players, gusto niyan nakikita na natutuwa ang coach nila. Pag tumatakbo siya everytime may good point, yung players nai-inspire lalo (Players love to please their coach. So when they saw him running, they got more inspired),” said team manager Tony Boy Liao.

And then there’s the meditation exercises  he made his players do.

“Laging sinasabi ni coach Tai mag-meditate kami kasi baka masyado kaming ma-excite at manggigil sa game (Coach Tai made us meditate to calm our minds and not get overexcited and over-eager during the game),” Valdez said.

Bundit came in last August to help whip up a crew led by Valdez, Denden Lazaro and Ella de Jesus and young guns like Jia Morado and Michelle Morente into shape.

He did more than that.

“Actually when I talked to him for this program, sabi ko sa kanya meron akong team na bata. Specialization niya kasi ang bata. Meron akong team na bata, may skills, kailangan mo lang palakasin at pabilisin. Kung ano’ng training na ginagawa mo sa national team ng Thailand, yun ang gawin mo (His specialty is training young players. So I told him we have a young team, skilled, make then stronger and quicker. Apply the training you’re doing with the Thai national team),” said Liao.

The training was like hell, players admitted.

“Yung training ni coach Tai sa do-or-die matches, sa training pa lang, mamamatay na kami. Sobrang hirap pero yung resulta, sobrang okay sa game (The training for our do-or-die matches, especially, was so tough we’d die. But if was effective and showed good results on game time),” said Valdez.

As Ateneo made the leap from a team on transition to a team on top, vanquished La Salle could only look back and learn from their botched four-peat drive.

“We lost to a better team,” DLSU coach Ramil de Jesus admitted.

La Salle had its best chance to secure crown No. 4 in the third game when it led 12-8 in the deciding fifth set last Wednesday. Never-quit Ateneo stole that one, 25-21, 25-23, 18-25, 16-25, 17-15.

And the Lady Eagles completed their flight to  high heavens with the straight set verdict in the battle for the marbles.

“Hindi kami maka-receive. Ang sipag pa ng depensa ng kalaban (Our reception was poor and the opponent worked so hard on defense),” said de Jesus.