USJ-R Jaguars gear up for CESAFI season with new faces

University of San Jose-Recoletos college basketball team Head Coach Leode Garcia (3rd from left) and Team Captain Miguel Gastador  (second from left) visit the CDN Digital office during their guesting of CDNSportstalk. | CDN Digital

CEBU CITY, Philippines— The University of San Jose-Recoletos college basketball team may have new players playing for their team, but that does not mean that they are slowing down.

Head Coach Leode Garcia and Team Captain Miguel Gastador shared their preparations for this coming CESAFI season on the last episode of CDN Sportstalk.

“Dako gyud og trabahoon-on, but dili gyud na excuse kay rookie, among gi trabaho ron sa team sa day by day practices kay aron mo mature sila” said Garcia.

(There’s really so much to do but being a rookie is not an excuse. We are working on the team with our day to day practices so that they will be more mature in playing.)

While Gastador shared the same sentiments with his coach, he said that their team might have a lot of new players but he saw that their players were in it to win it.

“Kuwang ra silag experience, but mo fight gyud ni sila” said Gastador.

(They just lacked experience, but I know that they are willing to fight for the game.)

Read more: Despite losing key players, USJ-R coach believes team has fighting chance in Cesafi 

Since their stint in the recent Partner’s Cup, Garcia now has a solid lineup for his team that might bring them back to the finals this season.

“Naglisod gyud kog compose sa team unsaon nako pag lineup, but while nagduwa sa Partners Cup nakita nako kung kinsa gyud. Unta maka cope up lang gyud sila, kung unsa among gi-guide sa ilaha at least masunod lang,” said a hopeful Garcia.

(I had a hard time in composing the team, especially the lineup, but while they were playing for the Partner’s Cup it helped me in picking out the players. I’m just hoping that they will cope with the practices and that they will follow our guidance.)

CESAFI season is just right around the corner and the Jaguars are still hungry for that championship title.

Garcia is confident that the new system that he has introduced to the team will make them stronger.

“In each game show lang gyud namo unsa among mabuhat. Then dili lang permi tanaw nga dapat masud sa finals, pero guide lang na namo nga makafinals,” said Garcia.

(In each game, we will just show what we can do. Then don’t just focus on going to the finals but on guiding them to reach the finals.)

This is going to be a very exciting season for the Jaguars, who will be bringing out new faces that might be as promising as their previous players like Jaybie Mantilla and Rj Dinolan, who are now both playing for the Cebu City Sharks basketball team. /dbs