With the highly competitive UAAP Season 81 Women’s Volleyball Tournament ongoing, the four-peat seeking DLSU Lady Spikers have been training twice a day in the past few months. The LaSallian caught up with the graduating team captain Des Cheng right after one of their morning trainings.
In this first installment, Cheng shares her experiences when she first started in DLSU before becoming the anchor of the team that she is today.
“What do you want to know about me?” were the words the skipper welcomed The LaSallian with. The 22 year-old Lady Spiker smiles and lets out a breather before answering the questions given to her.
On trying out, staying in volleyball
“Yung sister ko, si achi Djanel Cheng from CSB, siya talaga yung nag-influence sa’kin mag-sports. Kasi before super kikay ako, sobrang arte, sobrang lahat. ‘Di pwede masaktan, yung achi ko parang sabi niya laro tayo, volleyball, ganyan,” she shares.
(My sister, achi Djanel Cheng, from CSB. She was really the one who influenced me to play a sport. Before, I was super girly and all that. I wasn’t allowed to get hurt, but my sister invited me to play volleyball.)
“Kaya ako nag-stay kasi nalaman namin [sa] latter part ng high school namin ng achi ko na nakaka-help pala siya for scholarship ganyan. Eh hindi naman kami super well-off na family. So sabi ni achi, ‘Ituloy tuloy mo, shobe, itutuloy ko syempre para maka-help rin tayo kila mama para isa nalang yung paaralin nila,’ which is yung brother ko nalang so syempre sabi ko, ‘Why not? ‘Di naman bad sport yung volleyball and na-enjoy ko naman siya,’ edi ituloy-tuloy ko na.”
(The reason why I stayed is that my sister and I found out in the latter part of our high school that it helps with acquiring scholarships. Our family isn’t that super well-off. So my sister told me, ‘Continue playing shobe, I’ll continue playing so mama and papa will only pay tuition for one person,’ and that is my brother, so of course, I said, ‘Why not? Volleyball isn’t a bad sport anyway, and I’m enjoying it,’ so I continued playing [volleyball].)
The senior she looked up to the most
“[Si] achi Ara talaga. Kasi si ate Ara kung mapapansin mo before, nung rookie ako, talagang nakikita ko sa kanya yung passion niya sa volleyball tapos parang si ate Ara kasi dito sa amin, para siya yung taong ‘di napapagod, parang kahit ano yung ipagawa sayo ng coaches, nagagawa niya. Parang woah! Kaya niya yun? Ara Galang talaga.”
(It’s really achi Ara. Before, when I was a rookie, you’d see the passion she has for volleyball. We see her as someone who’s never tired, anything the coaches ask us to do, she can do it. Like woah! She can do that? Really, Ara Galang.)
Being called achi Des
“I know right? Feeling ko sobrang tanda ko na. Okay lang, at least ako naman ngayon yung nagbibigay ng advice sa kanila lalo na sa mga rookies namin kasi ayoko na pagdaanan nila yung napagdaanan ko na sobrang hype, sobrang andaming sinabi na, ‘Dapat ganito ka, dapat ganyan ka.’ Syempre nire-remind ko sila na, ‘Okay rookie kayo, gawin niyo lang kung ano yung pina-practice natin, i-apply niyo sa game.’ Masaya sa feeling na nakaka-help ako. Ngayon, it’s time to give back naman. Tayo naman mga ates ang maghe-help sa mga bata.”
(I know right? I feel so old already. It’s okay though, at least this time I’ll be the one giving advices to them, especially to the rookies, because I don’t want them to go through what I did. A lot of comments saying, ‘You should be like this, you should be like that.’ I would remind them, ‘Okay, you guys are rookies, just do what we practice and apply it in the game.’ It’s a good feeling that I could be of help. Right now, it’s time to give back. We, the big sisters, will be the ones helping the kids.)
