La Salle coach De Jesus keeps calm: No more ‘pambarangay’ comment

MANILA, Philippines – There was no “pambarangay” comment this time. 

Even after defending champion La Salle absorbed a shock loss to the University of the Philippines (UP), coach Ramil de Jesus did not berate his team.  

“Wala, ‘di ako nagalit sa kanila,” shared the 11-time UAAP women’s volleyball champion coach during the post-game interview.  

(No, I did not get mad at them.)

The reaction was far different when De Jesus called his team “pambarangay” when they lost to Adamson last February 24, 2018 before going undefeated to win a three-peat title. 

This time, De Jesus admitted that La Salle faced a UP team that’s tough to beat.

“Wala, puro motivation lang kasi first time namin naka-encounter ng sobrang hirap talunin eh. Mas gusto ng kalaban na manalo kaya sabi ko sa kanila, yun yung naging factor, mas gusto nila manalo,” said De Jesus. 

(I just motivated them because it was the first time that we encountered an opponent that was really hard to beat. They wanted it more and that was the deciding factor. They wanted the win more.)

De Jesus also pointed out that La Salle committed 37 errors to UP’s 29 and the Lady Maroons banked on their familiarity with each other, which became another ingredient in the upset.

Even if De Jesus praised rookie Jolina Dela Cruz for a scintillating 19-point performance for the Taft-based squad, he still wanted more from his players, especially the seniors.

“Puro rookie yung bumubuhat sa team, paano yung mga seniors natin? Ano na nangyayari, bakit sobrang slow start tayo. Sabi ko kailangan kayo yung mag-spark.”

(Our rookies are carrying us, where are the seniors? I told them that they should provide the spark in our team.)

De Jesus and the Lady Spikers, though, hope to quickly regain their groove in their next game against the UST Golden Tigresses on Wednesday, March 6, at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City. – Juro Morilla/Rappler.com