“Noong highschool ako, basketball player ako. Mahilig ako magpush up, tapos nagbubuhat na ako, kasabayan ko mga seniors ko mag-buhat, kung ano ang weight na binubuhat nila, yun din ang bubuhatin ko,” said Aganon, team captain of UP Track and Field Team, starting to converse about how he started as an athlete. Gabz Aganon, 20, is an incoming senior student, taking up a degree in Sport Science at UP Diliman.
When he was in 4th year high school, his skills in throwing events began to improve through baseball pass. It is used when you have a wide open player far down the court and the passer throws the ball with one hand. “May coach ako sa basketball na thrower ng UP dati,” he continues, “so, nakitaan niya ako ng potential sa throwing dahil malakas ako bumato ng baseball pass during laro.” He was chosen then to represent his school, Lourdes School of Mandaluyong, to the Private Schools Athletic Development Association (PRADA) in Track and Field competition. Amazingly, he brought home the bacon. In addition, he was also selected to be part of the Mandaluyong team during the NCR meet and won the bronze medal.
When it was time for college, he had a big chance of making it to the UP System so he had undergone try outs in Track and Field at Diliman. Because of his exceptional performance in sports during his high school days, there was less need for him to pass through the eye of a needle. His coaches discovered his speed, so they trained him in running events and he became a decathlete later on, who plays combined events in athletics consisting of ten track and field events.
If you’re into a sport, you really must have an overall conditioning so you can perform on a consistent basis. So when I asked him about his diet plan, he shared, “May times na kain lang ako ng kain dahil bawal magkasakit at humina.” Aganon continues, “tapos may multivitamins ako tsaka vitamin C para iwas sa sakit at natutulog ng maaga, mga 9pm dapat nakahiga na.”
It’s also a normal thing when an athlete who excels in sport often fails to give his studies its due attention. To my surprise, he never had any difficulty with this matter as he said,“Di naman ako nahihirapan, dahil di pa naman ako bumabagsak. Madiskarte lang talaga dapat.” He sees to it that he does not get bogged down by the demands of his athletic life. He makes sure that he is a student first, then an athlete second.“Pero kung feel ko kailangan ko mag-pahinga, di ako mag-aaral dahil wala naman akong maabsorb sa pinag-aaralan ko,” he unhesitantly admitted.
He also revealed that there was a year when he had almost lost his appetite for playing due to idleness of some of his teammates. “Pero may mga rookies kami dati na magsosophomore na sobrang sipag na tipong mahihiya ka kung tinamad ka,” he further confessed.
“Track and Field ay parang basic of all sports. Here, every athlete will learn the basic fundamentals such as motor skills and at the same time, it is a technical sport which is hard so kailangan talaga ng determinasyon at disiplina,” his words when being asked about his own description of his sport. And when I finally asked him what makes him fall in love with his sport all over again, “Dahil solid ang bonding naming mga magti-teammates ngayon at dahil sa masaya ako sa training ko, parang di ako napapagod sa aking ginagawa araw-araw, parang palaging bago,” he remarks.
0 comments:
Speak up your mind
Tell us what you're thinking... !