Yesterday, Coach Bernard was unavailable to join us for futsal training; nevertheless, I had a good number of students who played in Libis. I was delighted to have 7 highschoolers join the activity. These kids were Shane, Nino, Pea, Junichi, Sam, Zach, and Kevin.

When we arrived in Club 650, I thought that my friends cancelled the game because we arrived at 8:45 due to heavy traffic and the lights on the court were still out. I thought the games should’ve started at 8:30 and expected to see many players. There was no one there except us. So I asked the management about reservations for the court and learned the games were moved from 9-11PM.

At about 9:15PM there were enough veteran players on the court to challenge the HEdCen team. We implemented a diamond formation unlike previous 5-a-side games where we used a square shaped formation. I did this adjustment so that the wingers would feel more confident running the left and right lanes on counterattacks. I didn’t have to worry much about defense because I trusted the kids would return back to defensive formation right away after our attacks. I started as the forward. The wingers were Pea and Shane while Nino was the last man. Junichi was our goalie.

Our first game was a draw. We should’ve won that game but I missed a couple of clear attempts to the goal. I sort of felt bad I missed those shots cause the highschoolers pressed the veterans very well that I got a lot of loose balls for the counterattack. I don’t remember if it was Pea or Shane who scored for us but we scored first.

I was so tired after the first game because of our fast play. I couldn’t keep up with the pace of the kids. Besides having colds, either I was in terrible shape or I’m getting old to play at a fast pace. I think its the latter but I hope not. Anyway, I reminded the boys to dictate the pace of the game, to do things fast, to force errors on the opposition and to counterattack without hesitation. That was their game. When Coach Bernard and I play with the highschoolers, we have a tendency to slow things down because we couldn’t cope with the fast pace. I told myself that if I were playing with these boys, I’m going to have to keep running. That’s what we all did and we did great.

In the next game, I rested Pea and Junichi. Zach started as the last man, and the wingers were Nino and Shane. Again, I played as the striker but stayed on the court for only 4-5 minutes because I was exhausted. I let Pea take over. From that point onwards, The highschoolers were on their own. I had always imagined a couple of young lads getting beaten up and humiliated by much more experienced senior team so I thought that the coaches must always be with the boys to neutralize the size, strength, and skill of the seniors. On the other hand, there was a part of me that thought the kids are good and they can do it on their own. If not, this would be a good experience and challenge to them. Well, I guess I just had to see for myself the result of letting them play without a coach - NOT BAD…Not bad at all was what I told myself after they won the game.

I knew they could do it. Zach did very well at the back. If I had any doubts on Zach’s ability to defend and to initiate plays or counterattacks from backcourt, they have been greatly reduced. Of course, there is always room for improvement but Zach did very well. Nino and Shane ran the lanes in every transition of the game. Pea got the other veterans watching to applaude after finishing plays with goals on well-placed shots. I noticed he’d only use his left and thought that if only his right foot felt better, Pea would be unstoppable.

We had a couple more games after. We won some. We lost some. Again, its not really the result of each match I’m concerned with. It’s the exposure they get in playing with very skillful players, guys who’ve had so much more experience playing at a higher level of competition. It’s the confidence they get from being tested with a bigger task, with a more difficult obstacle. These are experiences our players will need to become better, and we can no longer provide in our own grounds.

I’m sure Sam’s become tougher after his experience playing for one of the teams that asked for his goal-keeping services in a game between former La Salle and UP players. He played for the La Salle team and actually won the game for them after saving about 8 to 10 open shots by the Maroons. I could tell my former teammates were frustrated after each save Sam made. Now, Mr. Vitug can always look back to that game as concrete evidence to his potential as a very good goalie. The next step would be consistency.

Hopefully, Jomar, Wacky, Renee, and Eric would be able to join us next futsal. This will be a good experience for them.

One more thing…Earlier, I was hesitant to bring students to the games because I was conscious that the veterans would feel there was no challenge playing highschoolers. Now, we all know its nothing like that…hehe…I love coaching…