With All for More as the theme for UAAP Season 82, the Green and Lady Tankers aim to double their efforts to achieve better finishes this time around. Last season, the Green Tankers ended with 382 points to place second overall, while the Lady Tankers garnered a total of 143 points, landing them in third place during the four-day meet. The LaSallian meets with Green Tankers co-captain Elijah Lizares, Lady Tankers co-captain Maggie Mendoza, and head coach Evan Grabador who each express their desire to carry the momentum from last season into this year’s competition.
Out with the old, in with the new
After improving from fourth place in Season 80 to third place last season, Mendoza hopes that the team will maintain their standing—or even improve it. This year, the team will be without Lady Tankers Glycel So, Dara Evangelista, and Angelie Jalauig, who have already graduated, and Xiandi Chua, who will be representing the country in the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. Moreover, another formidable player, Andy Canlas, will be unavailable due to her transfer to UST.
Despite this, Mendoza is excited to see the squad thrive with the help of fresh recruits Audrey Chua, Nika Chua, and Anezhka Lim. Nikki Pamintuan, a three-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award recipient in the UAAP Juniors division from De La Salle Zobel, will also join the fold. With the high level of competition in the UAAP, Mendoza believes they can be among the best if they take things step by step as a collective unit.
On the other hand, the Green Tankers have undergone a massive overhaul, as six of their swimmers—Red Silvestre, Miggy Narciso, JM Ereñeta, Robby Agustin, Fahad Alakhaldi, and Jomai Santos—have already graduated from the University. To replenish the players they lost, the Green Tankers recruited 10 new swimmers, Antoine Mendoza, Kelles Que, Cole Co, Bernard Cruz, Isaac Santos, Marc Libarnes, Mctracey Alindogan, Ej Jayme, Marzel Llorente, and Hamed Afshin Azar.
With a sea of fresh faces in their lineup, Lizares believes that the athletes must form stronger bonds with one another in order to be united in pursuit of the team’s goals, “As a team, one of our goals is to get closer to each other and to form more bonds, and [to] try to become a family.”
As the rookies are looked upon as the future of the team, Lizares shares that the diversity of each individual makes the new batch of Tankers a special group. “Our new recruits are an interesting bunch. Most of them came from other La Salle schools, while others had other backgrounds and one even coming from another country to study here,” he states.
Formidable qualities as student-athletes
Being a senior, Mendoza wants to leave an impression of responsibility and hard work on the team, while upholding motivation and consistency during trainings and games. “As a student-athlete, of course, student muna so we put our academics first. We know that it is important to maintain our studies,” Mendoza asserts. “As an athlete naman, kailangan healthy kami and disciplined sa tulog, sa rest. Hindi kami pwedeng nag-papagod.”
(As an athlete, we need to stay healthy and disciplined with sleep and rest. We cannot overwork ourselves [as much as possible].)
Individually,
Mendoza believes that recording personal best times can contribute to the
betterment of the whole team. She reiterates the notion of sticking together, “As a team, at the end of the day,
we want to have the same goal, the same heart. We focus on being
as a team.”
For the Green Tankers to compete at the level of other teams in the UAAP, Lizares and his team captain, Alnair Guevarra, must be prime examples for the team.
Taking on leadership roles
“Expect us to give our best until the last event—through discipline and sacrifice,” head coach Evan Gabrador emphasizes for both teams, as he is looking for yet another podium finish for the two Taft-based squads.
Leadership though goes way beyond the pool for the Green-and-White, as Lizares shares that he makes it a point to lead his team through the events—and he also wants them to succeed outside of it. “We are the ones [who] remind people that they have to submit their requirements to the office. We also have to remind them, to study and focus on their [academics], and remind each other to train and go to the gym,” he states.
Being a co-captain of a team entails being able to help improve one’s teammates in any way, and help instill a winning culture that will go beyond the season. Lady Tankers co-captain Mendoza shares the different attributes she taught to her team, “We could impose on them our determination, the motivation we have sa training. Yung consistency namin, yung responsibility and discipline that we have. It’s important na hard work talaga sa training.” Both the Green and Lady Tankers will begin their respective UAAP Season 82 campaigns on Thursday, October 17, at the Trace Aquatic Center in Laguna.
ERRATUM: In the article titled “UAAP: Revitalized Green, Lady Tankers set sights on higher glory”, Elijah Lizares was mistakenly named the team captain of the Green Tankers, while Maggie Mendoza was mistakenly named as the team captain of the Lady Tankers. Both Lizares and Mendoza are co-captains of their respective teams. The article also mistakenly spelled the name of Lady Tanker Angelie Jalauig.
The LaSallian apologizes for the oversight.
