FOR student-athletes of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi), the month of June usually provides them with some relief as they bid goodbye to tough, lung-busting conditioning drills when the team turns its attention to the finer details of their preparations for the upcoming season.
However, with the 2020 Cesafi season already canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, all preparations have ground to a screeching halt. And with practice sessions and sports competitions still prohibited, several former and current Cesafi standouts have been left to reminisce of — in hindsight — better days.
Ted Saga, team captain of the Cebu powerhouse University of the Visayas, said the coaches have made them all understand the importance of summer training.
“Summer training is the most crucial part of our preparation because this is the time that our consistency is thoroughly tested. Even though we are all tired and sleepy from waking up so early to practice, we always have to find time to put in some extra work. That’s what the coaches always reminds us to do: to do some individual practice so that we can improve on our weaknesses and our strengths as well,” said Saga.
As beneficial as summer training sessions are for these athletes, it's not something they are actually fond of doing. From the scorching summer heat to the gauntlet of drills and activities they have to complete, these athletes still remember in vivid detail the things they had to go through to get in peak condition when the Cesafi season starts in August.
“The hardest and toughest training for me are those conditioning drills that we had to do in Abellana. All of our drills there always make us puke. We do drills nga 300 meters around the oval and then naa ray time limit, 100 meters full sprint nga lapas ug 10 sets because there are times that our conditioning coach isn’t impressed with our performance. There are times when we’d complain that we aren’t training to be basketball players anymore but sprinters!” said Cesafi juniors Mythical Five member Isaiah Blanco of the University of Cebu.
UC’s conditioning drills at “Abellana” or the Cebu City Sports Center are rigorous, said Cesafi seniors Mythical Five guard Darrell Shane Menina.
“They make us run for 15 rounds and we have to complete it in 30 minutes. After that, we have to sprint up the stairs of the bleachers,” shared Menina, who is getting ready for play for Valenzuela in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL).
“Those training sessions made me say that it’s really not easy being a basketball player. They just think it is but it’s not,” Menina added.
Former Cesafi Most Valuable Player Jaybie Mantilla also recalled those torturous training sessions he had while playing for the University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars. He remembered being so tired he wanted to fake an injury just so he could get a break from the tiresome drills.
“There were times when I got so tempted to fake an injury because I was just so tired already. There was this one time when I wanted to already puke because I couldn’t catch my breath,” said Mantilla, who now plays for Cebu-Casino Ethyl Alcohol in the MPBL.
“I used to wake up at 4 a.m. since I still had to travel to get to the campus. Practice started at 5 a.m. We’d also have practice in the afternoons as well. But that’s okay since we were all aware that it was necessary in order for us to achieve our goals,” Mantilla added.
Two more USJ-R standouts, Miguel Gastador and Elmer Echavez, echoed Mantilla’s sentiments regarding the toughness of Jaguars’ training sessions.
Gastador remembered pushing himself to exhaustion since he wants to set a good example for his teammates.
“Kasuway na jud ko anang hapit na jud ko kasukaon or kakuyapon because I really push myself so that my teammates would see that there is no room to relax since the season is just on the horizon,” said the former Cesafi slam dunk champ.
Echavez said you really to have proper time management if you want to get through it.
“As a varsity player, every day is a tiring day. You will need time management for everything. Every practice is tough. But there was this one time where I almost fainted because I had a mild fever. I was having a hard time breathing and needed a day to rest. With all that tiredness that we face every day, I always tell myself that I can do this and I will make it because this is what I want. I will be successful one day, and that all of my sacrifices and love for basketball will bring me a successful future,” said Echavez, who is a rising star for the Jaguars.
University of San Carlos Warriors stalwart Jules Langres knows there is a price to pay if you come to summer training unprepared.
“There was this time when I had school reports to finish and we had practice at 5 a.m. which I still attended in spite not having any sleep. My body almost gave up on me during that time. If you come to practice unprepared, you are really going to puke,” said Langres.
Langres’ teammate, Kurt Trangia, also remembers having a number of teammates puke their guts out during one particularly brutal training session. However, that was not the worst part of it.
“Doc (Rhoel) Dejaño was in charge of our conditioning session during that time and he had already told us to prepare ourselves. After some sprinting drills, there were three or four teammates of mine who puked on the sidelines because of how tiring it was,” said Trangia.
“However, that wasn’t the end of it. Since we were so tired from the conditioning session, we weren’t able to perform well during the actual practice and our coach made us sprint some more!”
Even the reigning league MVP Shaquille Imperial was not immune to the difficult summer training sessions of Dejano, who is a world-class physiatrist and sports conditioning expert.
“I remember it very well. It was the first day of training and it was Dr. Dejaño who was handling us. There were many different stages to the drills that we did and I think I made it as far as stage 8 but I couldn’t proceed any more because my vision was already blurry from fatigue. I had to stop because I had nothing left. I really won’t forget that,” said Imperial.
In spite of all the difficulties and challenges that summer training brings, UV ace Jancork Cabahug said it’s all worth it since it brings the rest of the team together. Cabahug said they used to jog from Countrymall all the way to Mabini.
“My teammates and I worked together by encouraging each other to finish. And of course, we enjoyed a great meal afterwards,” said Cabahug. (JNP)