How Taiwan Experience Brought Better Team Chemistry to UE Red Warriors
Article submitted by: Mitzi Santiago
Photo Source: UAAP Photos
In team sports like basketball, chemistry plays a very important role in having a successful run. We’ve witnessed many teams with little to no superstars have a fantastic season, all credit to each member’s relationship with each other. While team chemistry sounds like such a basic concept, it actually takes more than just spending almost every day together on the court to build one that can book a team’s ticket to the finals in hopes of bringing home the chip.
Much like the ’03-’04 NBA season, wherein the Detroit Pistons won the championship with arguably no “superstars,” the UE Men’s Basketball team is also keen on booking their way to the finals with the underdog squad they currently have. Over the last few years, especially with the departure of old players and the acquisition of new ones, it seems like the Red Warriors are in their rebuilding stage yet again. But such is not the case for team captain Jack Cruz-Dumont. For him, their current roster is their best one yet in terms of having great team chemistry, and he believes he can speak for the rest of the team and say the same thing.
“Our team is closer than ever. We’ve been together for 2 years, practicing every day, plus we’re all friends off the court too, so that makes the biggest difference.”
While there’s been a notion of a division between fil-foreign and local players in any team, this new UE squad begs to differ, and their most recent Taiwan trip proves just that.
Last August 2nd, the Red Warriors flew to Taiwan to defend their title at the Fu Jen Catholic University (FJCU) Cup. In this tournament, they went head-to-head with different universities from other Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Taiwan. It was a great run for the Red Warriors, ending the eliminations with a 4-0 win-loss record, which automatically booked their way to the finals to face the Ateneo Blue Eagles. Despite not being able to successfully defend their crown, the players believe that there’s more to the trip than just winning the tournament and having to share the same experience with the rest of the team is what makes the whole thing worthwhile. To rookie Nico Mulingtapang, simple activities such as roaming around Taiwan together, exploring night markets, and hanging out with each other played a bigger role in developing their chemistry than playing in the tournament itself – something he thinks his teammates got to enjoy the most over the course of their time overseas. He reckons doing the laundry with his co-rookies as one of the experiences worth remembering because it helped them get to know each other better. He also takes pride in the fact that his seniors, Wello Lingolingo and Ethan Galang, entrusted everyone’s uniforms to them, thinking it’s a good training ground to be in charge of some responsibilities for the team as he would also have to take on more in the next coming years.
For teams that bank on having good internal relationships to reach success, you would expect the coaches to play a part too in making sure they accomplish this goal and so is true for the coaching staff of this young squad. Sophomore Devin Fikes, who is also coming back from an ACL injury obtained last season, shares how he and rookie Thirdy Malaga were intentionally put together as roommates. He says, often, there’s tension between them having to guard each other in practice, so he believes their room assignment played a big role in his and Thirdy’s relationship as they “became closer by sharing a room for a week and got to understand each other on a deeper level.”
With the seniors and the coaches having roles to play to ensure the team is intact and ready for the upcoming UAAP season, it’s exciting to see what this UE squad can bring to the table. Less than a month before season 87 commences, the Red Warriors are focusing on fine-tuning things and making sure everybody is working towards the same goals, which is to build a community as one and continuously grow their alma mater to greater heights.
