By Paulo Diesta and Nikolai Ordoña

The Ateneo Blue Eagles Boys’ Track and Field Team participated in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) competition previously held last November 25 at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City, where they brought home several awards in different categories.

Back to back victories

Jose Costelo from 12-Xavier, the team captain of the Ateneo Blue Eagles’ Boys Track and Field Team, achieved the top two spot and a silver medal for the discus throw event.

Afterward, he marched on to finish third, winning a bronze award in hammer throw as he led the team against Adamson University. 

Insights moving forward

In an interview with Costelo, he recounted the rigorous physical and mental preparations leading on to the event and praised the team’s determination as they represented the school this UAAP Athletics Season 86. 

“It was mostly just that the preparations were about technical preparations, as well as fighting and mental preparations,” Costelo remarked. 

“For my event at least, all eyes would be on myself so it takes a lot of mental stability and a lot of preparedness physically, so we trained a lot with my coaches […] To get us physically ready, but aside from that, we also did trials that also helped us mentally prepare for the aspect of UAAP,” he added. 

Nicolas Nieto of 12-Walpole, one of Cotelo’s teammates, mentioned how their high quality of training is attributed to their veteran Track and Field Coach Arniel Ferrera.

“Our coach [Arniel Ferrera] is really good. He has the 20-year record for UAAP. He’s a really, really good national team coach. He’s really good, so that helps a lot,” Nieto said.

“Coach Arniel is really good in hammer, really good in discus [throw], really good in shot put, but I feel like, my favorite event is javelin, but I feel like we don’t have any really specialty coaches for javelin,” he pointed out.

When asked about handling the pressure when competing at such a high level in these UAAP tournaments, Costelo admitted that he felt pressure coming into the event, especially as their team captain. 

“I definitely felt pressure, ‘cause you have a lot of expectations placed on you, especially for me as the team captain, and also the person that coaches relied on most and teammates the most. It definitely puts pressure on me as a person,” he said.

Additionally, Nieto mentioned how the pressure is “normal” to them, and that they have grown to “have fun,” and “like the pressure.” Moments before the event, they would have team “rituals,” which builds their confidence and fighting spirit.

As the team captain and winners of both silver and bronze awards, Costelo stressed the importance of practice in order to refine aspects of their performance come next year’s UAAP. 

“We’re still rebuilding as a team, and I feel that even though this is a good start to our rebuild, I feel like we could do more pa rin. […] Maybe in the future, if we train more and be really dedicated, we get to sing the ‘Mary for You’ song when we’re up on the podium, because that’s what we really want,” he concluded.