By Alex Lauricio and Marcus Suner

“If you really enjoy it, just keep playing. If it’s the game, then don’t let the ball drop,”  said Abby Martija, #21 and libero of the school’s girls’ volleyball team.

Within the Atenean sports scene comes this new budding roster—the girls’ volleyball team. For many volleyball players, digging the ball might just be one part of the game. But, to the passionate athlete, it constitutes a large part of their being. These select few individuals, varsities, have spent a major part of their life honing their craft as a love letter to the sport they play.

Alongside the girls’ team, the boys’ team will also see action, as they gear up to participate in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) boys’ division later this month. After many exhibition matches, tournaments, and days spent training, the bond between players is likened to family, according to Tati del Rosario, #25 open spiker of the squad.

Dedicated to their sport, athletes are well-versed in their main area of play, with some garnering over multiple years’ worth of experience in the field. For most, their commitment to their sport comes with a crucial trade off—time. While they are pinnacles of the Atenean sports scene, sometimes the boundary between work-and-play grows ever thinner, and becomes harder to balance. 

“It’s really important for us athletes to have discipline with ourselves,” said Marga Tan, Ateneo Girls’ #19 outside hitter.

Apart from rigorous practice regimens, one defining trait of varsity-hood manifests in the academic lives of these distinguished athletes; namely, that it is a balancing act between passion and academic duty; reducible to the many common work-play balance issues faced by common people, but may be exacerbated by an athlete’s dedication to their sport.

Noble in their pursuit of passion, we often see many of them switching between their roles as athlete and student, and between after-school training and requirements. Most rest days are spent sleeping after juggling the many arduous tasks that get placed on their shoulders. These difficulties came with the slow reintroduction of contact sports as the pandemic quietly comes to a close.

“It was like going back to square one,”

Abby remarked. Not being allowed to go outside, the gradual loss of physical activity led to many varsities facing difficulties as they slowly came back to adjust to the physical regimens that they were used to before the lockdowns.

As harsher quarantine regulations were slowly imposed at the height of the pandemic, the two long years of the pandemic brought isolation within the Atenean athlete community. Despite staying cooped up inside their houses, many missed the playing fields and indoor courts they once called home.

The pandemic’s slow exit offers a light at the end of the tunnel for the budding young athletes: a chance to go back home. As the world ushers in a new era of physical sports post-pandemic, we will come to see many aspirants, beginners, or veterans return to the sporting scene. This is manifested by the Ateneo volleyball teams’ “focus on building the volleyball team and bringing the sport to life once again after the pandemic,” Del Rosario said.

“There would be times that it would feel not fun as it used to be. You won’t even recognize the sport – I forgot na you still love this sport. Sometimes it’s like that,” Tan shared.

There can and will be times where we can become distant from the interests we once had—even to the point of feeling like complete strangers. In Marga’s case, she underwent a period of time where she lost interest in the sport; but, at the end of the day, she still remained firm in her decision to stay through the thick and thin of the game—this is how Marga’s passion for volleyball manifests.

To date, the girls’ squad is expected to take part in the upcoming Under-18 Championships for Girls, spearheaded by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation, to be held on February 17, 2023 at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. 

Meanwhile, the boys’ team is setting their eyes on the UAAP volleyball boys’ division throne, which will hold its first match on February 13 in the Paco Arena, Manila. Many of them regard this as their first time to enter one of their biggest playing fields they’ve set foot on.

“My personal goal with the team entering the UAAP is, first and foremost, to be able to put out what we as a team have been preparing for,” Del Rosario started. The spiker added that they, as a team, aim to “challenge ourselves to seek the possibility of where we stand in the sport and where we see ourselves in the future […]”

As teams are gearing up to participate in the upcoming tournaments, one thing remains certain: don’t let the ball drop. As the Ateneo volleyball teams continue to hone their skills, they also welcome back the feeling of being home inside the court. Alongside the court come the crowds cheering for their alma mater, echoing the players’ names across the entire arena— Ateneans providing unequivocal support to their varsity teams.

As passionate as can be, the Atenean community will watch as they see the budding Blue Eagles soar new heights. Del Rosario said it best, “We are here not only to represent the school, but also to bring the life of volleyball back to the home of the Blue Eagles.”

Thumbnail Photos by the Hi-Lites Photos Department