By Cyrus A. Natividad
The College of Computer Studies Softball Team with their coach, Mr. Mark Clemens Ortaliz.
As we watched the intramurals unfold for the CPU-Day 2018 games at Central Philippine University, we became participants—thinking about struggles and victories in our own distant or recent pasts.
From where I was watching a basketball match between two college teams, I recalled the lessons from our Physical Education teacher way back in college. He always reminded us to “play as a team”—meant to encourage us to help each other—“win or lose.” He conditioned our minds to “do our best” together so that all of us felt the thrill of victory and got to bask in the light of winning.
Ball is life – a basketball game between the College of Pharmacy and the College of Medical Laboratory Science.
In any competition, we need to value ourselves and our teammates, combine our talents and abilities to make not just one, but everyone a winner. Our coach in any sports event we joined had the responsibility to strategize and then teach the team the game plan. One of the things I recall our coach telling us is this statement: “I am your coach. You may not always agree with me, but I’m the decision maker. You are obliged to implement my decision.” In planning strategies for the game, coach always gives the final say.
The team’s goal, on the other hand, was to execute the game plan in order to win. Every team is different, and every game is different. Therefore, it was necessary to know our team’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as that of our opponents’. The individual members had to adjust to one another and play together as a team. Division was simply bad sportsmanship.
Spiking prowess – College of Engineering Volleyball player aiming for gold.
The other principle we learned from our good coach was that each player should not only know the rules, but to also play by the rules. It should help a lot that each player doesn’t limit himself/herself to learning only the rules but applies those rules to his/her assignment. A team that doesn’t abide by the rules could get penalized, lose points, and thereby lose in the end.
The best games I’ve watched were those played by evenly matched opponents. I’ve talked about winning, but the reality is that in every game, there is a winner and a loser. There is no sense in trying to win if the possibility of losing doesn’t exist as there will be no motivation to improve. Nevertheless, I think that there is still beauty and grace even if a team loses when each member has done his/her best.
To all our CPU athletes—May God bless you!