The opening games in RIFA for HEdCen was a nightmare. Despite a good performance by HEdCen Midgets A, they always came short with their attacks and Marist made sure their chances were converted to goals. Lead by Rafanan, Marist attacked the left wing early in the 1st half and delivered a cross that blasted into the goal giving Marist an early lead. HEdCen hit the post 5 times and had several opportunities to score goals including 1 vs 1 situations with the keeper. HEdCen just kept falling short with the finishing. HEdCen played very well. We just lack that killer instinct and I believe that they will get that in the do or die game against Ateneo 2 weeks from now.

In the highschool match, the only advantage HEdCen had was size. It wasn’t enough. Small FEU players overwhelmed us with skill, endurance, passing, and hard defending. They showed how much our highschool lacked in physical conditioning, and team play. Hopefully, we’d do better against the other schools.

Last Saturday, I was in Cagayan de Oro where I had to meet some people. It was on this day that HEdCen visited Ateneo for a practice game in the college fields. According to Coach Sugar, the game ended in a draw. Ateneo scored the first goal, a grounder that slipped past our goalie’s hands and into the net. Coach Sugar said that despite the goal, HEdCen did not lose its composure and showed maturity in the field dominating the wings which later resulted to a spectacular effort by co-captain of Midgets A James Condat, who weaved through two Ateneans before blasting the ball over the goalie for the equalizer. Ateneo took control of the middle. This gave them opportunities to attack though HEdCen controlled the game overall.

Skie was in bad condition due to stomach problems. Skie couldn’t function well but the outstanding performance of the other HEdCenites made up for that.

Coach Sugar is confident that the team will continue to grow and develop before the start of their first match against neighbor La Salle Antipolo.

Tomorrow’s training will be focused on endurance and player-ball movement in the field.

This morning, we played 2 games with Marist. In the first game, our HEdCen Midgets A team (boys born 95-97) beat Marist 3-1. At the start of the game, Marist seemed to be taking control until our players, ALL our players transformed into a team with one mind. HEdCenites were always 2 steps ahead. We were able to penetrate Marist’s defense on both wings. Before the game, Coach Sugar and I reminded the boys on each side to work together using combination plays to utilize the space and make breakaway attacks to the wings. They did just that. James and Luigi got things going on the right side. Their runs were well-timed, and their passes to the spaces were very good. On the left flank, it was John and Edward. They did just as well as the right wingers and had very good help from Miguel Almazan, striker, and Rvin Resuma, center midfielder. The first goal was scored by James Condat who caught the goalie away from the goal and delivered a shot that went over the Marist defense, keeper, and into the net. A few minutes after, Harvy Maitem of Marist received a pass from Marist teammates and caught HEdCen’s defenders getting too comfortable at the back. He took a shot and banged the ball past Nikko’s hands. The game was tied at that point. It was then that HEdCen’s defense woke up and never let Marist score again. Rvin Resuma scored the next 2 goals which lifted HEdCen 3-1 by halftime.

I was very happy to see all of our players perform very well today in the Midgets A division. Jason played brilliantly when he relieved Luigi at the left. The game rhythm was not lost even if there changes in the positions of some players. Ackie and Troy played exceptionally well in their positions today as defenders.

We still need to make our cutting and passing more automatic. It has to turn into an instinct so I will devise some drills and scrimmages that will help them further anticipate each other’s moves and have more options in the field which may result to better decisions made by each player in the games.

Our highschoolers beat Marist 3-1 though they struggled the entire game. I think that HEdCen was more conscious of working as a team and avoiding solo plays than in the game against CSA last week but it was evident that they were very uncomfortable using the wings to penetrate the defense of their opponent. They were also out of shape. They were very sluggish and their reaction time was slow. We can work on the game movement and system of the team slowly but the players must get themselves fit or the game plan will be useless.

Coach Bernard is planning a training program to address the team’s lack of endurance but we are hoping the highschool players will be responsible enough to train together. So far, its always been 4-5 highschoolers who practice at a time. I hope after the midterms starting Friday, the highschool team will train religiously MWTh. Managing time is a challenge for a highschooler but it can be done.

I still have high hopes for our candidates because they have the potential to be a winning team and a contender for the championship. Right now, we’re far from it but we can still reach that goal in time if we start working now. We have the material, but now, we need the desire and the commitment of the players.

This year, the Midgets A and B team of HEdCen trains for two major tournaments, the Palarong Pambansa Football Tournament which should start sometime in October or November and the ANZA tournament in Singapore which was joined by 2 of our teams that ended fifth overall in two divisions. The team will be playing selections from provinces all over the Philippines in the Palaro. Then, they will compete in the ANZA tournament against clubs from all over the world this summer 2009. Training has begun for these tournaments which will be 11-a-side. I am finalizing my plans for the training program of this team for the whole year. We will focus on our formation and player movement in the whole field so all preparations needed to implement our system of attack and defense will be taken one step at a time until we master the game play we desire.

Today, we focused on ball possession and player movement. Concentrating on this area will improve our players’ ability to make better decisions and give us better options in attacking. Our players will be trained further to identify spaces where we could attack and switch the ball quickly from one area of the field to where there is enough space for us to penetrate their defense.

In defense, individual defending skills will be our major focus for most of the year.

At around 1:30PM this afternoon, there was a very strong downpour of rain. There was water everywhere including the fields. Coach Sugar advised the bus service that varsity training for today would be cancelled since the field would be very muddy. I was about to tell boys 95-97 players that there was no practice today but upon passing by the field, I saw that it wasn’t muddy at all. The field was wet but the soil looked smooth and firm. So when Skie, Luigi and Jason asked if there was practice, I decided that we should train if they were willing anyway. Many of the players missed practice. I expected that but still there was good attendance. Other players showed up like Aldo, Diego, Luis, Jared, James, John, Alen, Edward, and Ackie Adeva. We practiced our weak foot kicks, side volley kicks, and worked on receiving balls on the run, creating space for self and teammates, and cutting to open spaces. The receivers (field players) were marked by defenders who prevented passes from one end of the enclosed area to the other. I realized we need to work more on improving the passers’ anticipation of player movement and the receivers’ ability or skill in creating space and receiving balls given small and large space.

We were not able to play a game due to lack of time. Hopefully, I will see improvement in the player movement and passing this Wednesday so we can spend more time playing practice games.

Only a few highschool players showed up for training so I advised Jomar and company to spend the afternoon jogging outside.

The weather was fine while we trained but I hope it doesn’t rain on Wednesday.

HEdCen Midgets A and Highschool teams played against Colegio San Agustin this morning in CSA Makati grounds. The results were better than last week’s practice against Marist (Born 95-97: HEdCen 0 Marist 0) and Claret (All HS: HEdCen 1 Claret 5). HEdCen Midgets A beat CSA 5-1 and CSA HS beat HEdCen 2-0.

HEdCen Midgets A played with excellent passing and combination plays cutting through the wings and playing deadly thru passes against CSA. If they could further improve and master the use of space for cutting and receiving balls especially from the midfielders, this team will have a good chance to reach the championship. I am very pleased with the performances of many players but I think the following players played exceptionally well today: Luigi Fernandez, Edward dela Cruz, Rvin Resuma, and James Condat. The attendance of the players was good though we missed the services of Anton Solatorio and Jared Tolentino. Hopefully, they could make it to the next games.

On Monday, we will be working again on our left foot before scrimmages.

The line-up of our highschool never looked better with the addition of Korean students Jay and Stephen playing striker and right midfielder respectively. Despite a solid line-up, HEdCen had no answer for O’neal of CSA who dominated the midfield zone. He distributed the ball well and dictated the offensive rhythm of his team. If not for the good performance of HEdCen defenders, we would have been down by ten goals. For most of the game, only Nino Muros who provided solid defending and Stephen (left winger) kept HEdCen going. Jomar Dalaguit almost scored for HEdCen but fell short 4 times. According to Coach Sugar, the players lacked stamina and must take endurance training seriously.

Coach Sugar might set a practice game with Ateneo for the two teams. If not, we’ll play Marist again or train in Marikina Sports Plaza on Saturday.

Last Sunday, both HEdCen teams prevailed over Lourdes School of Mandaluyong in the Ateneo Highschool fields.

HEdCen Midgets B polverized LSM 11-0, scoring 4 goals in the 1st half and 7 in the 2nd half. Rvin scored 4 goals, Skie had 2, James - 1, John - 1, Jason - 1, Miguel - 1, and Ackie scored 1 goal.

Yesterday, HEdCen Midgets B played DBTI. HEdCen scored 2 early goals but a counterattack and quick shot by DBTI lead to a goal that ended the 1st half, 2-1. In the 2nd half, DBTI clogged their goal with many players but HEdCen broke their defense scoring 4 consecutive goals. The final score was 6-1. Skie, Rvin, and Miguel had 2 goals each.

We’re still hoping that Ateneo or Marist will beat Southridge so we could still have a chance to take the top spot. But for now, the team should focus on beating contenders Ateneo and Marist this Feb.

HEdCen All-highschool barely made it through LSM. Exceptional performances by Wacky Torres, AJ Beltran, Nino Muros, and Erik Fernandez made the win possible. LSM was held scoreless - thanks to poor finishing by their strikers who had several 1 on 1 situations with our goal keeper. We scored 1 goal on a cross by Renee from the left wing which Erik trapped and blasted to a defender before entering the goal early in the second half.

LSM pressed to catch-up after HEdCen scored. This made our players who were not fit for the game very tired and some even had cramps and had to leave the field. Most of HEdCen Highschool players had not been training in the previous week. Luckily, we won that game.

Yesterday, we played DBTI and our team lost 5-1. Pea scored our only goal. We weren’t so lucky this time especially with the absence of Shane Bucat who is reportedly ill.

I hope our teams will train harder like our All-Highschool girls team which trains everyday. They played CSA and Woodrose today. They lost to Woodrose 3-1 and tied CSA 0-0.

Last Saturday, 3 HEdCen teams performed well in the 1st round of the RIFA eliminations round.

HEdCen boys born 1997-98 lead by Jared Tolentino lost only to CSA, 1-0 and was tied with Xavier B, 0-0. They won the rest of their 5 games scoring at least 2 goals in each match.

Redwoods 1999-2000 were without Anton Escario and JR Gutang but the combination of Alec, James, Gabby, and megatwins Arturo and Luca proved effective enough to beat all teams except British School and Ateneo, which ended in tied games. Anakin was the team’s goal keeper.

HEdCen boys 2001 lost their 1st two games via default but won the rest of the games when the players arrived at Xavier. Simon and Andoy lead the attack for HEdCen with superior passing and dribbling.

Jamy and James Fabros will be leaving the country to live in the US with their parents but will play their last game for HEdCen on Feb 9 during the 2nd round of the RIFA eliminations.

It’s been a long time since writing about HEdCen football and posting pictures but I’m back. First of all, I’m so proud of our Aspirants girls winning the championship last Nov 17 even without Mary Rose. That just says a lot of good stuff about that team and the players…They really practiced hard. What’s so nice about that win was that as a whole, I think the team deserved it.

Our Midgets B beat CSA 5-0. Rvin scored a hat trick. James and Skie had 1 goal a piece. I heard Skie took complete control of the middle and the defense under Vinz Epino did very well.

Our All Highschool team also won against CSA, 3-1. HEdCen led 1-0 but CSA equalized before the end of the first half. Coach Sugar was frustrated about the boys’ performance. He feels the highschool boys easily get too confident even if they were up by only 1 goal…The boys responded and scored 2 more goals to win.

On Saturday, Midgets B and All HS’s skills and will will be put to a real test when they play Southridge. HEdCen has always beaten Southridge in the 95 division but Southridge will be a complete team on Saturday and I believe they’re just dying to win one over HEdCen. For HEdCen Midgets B, that can’t be taken for granted at all. We have to go all out on this. They’re definitely a much much better team than CSA 95.

Our All HS will play Southridge-GODLUCK boys…hehe…sama ko ba? hindi no, seryoso ako. I know that Southridge team…Believe me, they’re good. And they’ll squash any team unprepared to run and bang bodies with them…So boys, time to run tomorrow and on Thursday. No training on Friday (rest day). Don’t be absent. Do it for the team.

I talked to CJ, a former 40-year old Korean student in HEdCen who made arrangements with me for a friendly match between a Korean school and HEdCen in the highschool level. The game will start at 4PM on Thursday. All HS boys varsity are expected to be in the big field at that time.

Tomorrow, I will discuss our game plan for next week in training since we’ll be having our exams.

I got tired from jogging with the kids yesterday and today. My body is aching all over…need some rest…

Next year, RIFA will send two teams to the Dana and Norway Cups. One team will be a girls team under Emma Fernandez. The other group will be a selection of RIFA boys 96 with three born 95 players. I (Coach Juaqui) will be the head coach for this boys team. I have informed most of the HEdCen 95 and 96 players regarding try-outs. Hopefully, I will have a complete line-up for these tournaments before the year ends. I am confident that this Philippine team consisting of some of the best filipino futballers in their age group will be ready to compete for the championship against foreigners from all over the world.