CEBU CITY, Philippines— Fresh from their pre-season victory, the Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma Cobras basketball team talks about their championship experience with CDNSportstalk.
Members of the SWU-PHINMA team were all praises and smiles as they shared how it felt like to be called as champions in the pre-season tournament, CESAFI Partner’s Cup.
“Medyo a little bit stressed because we are pressured to repeat for the upcoming CESAFI,” said Head Coach Mike Reyes.
The team said that they had been blessed with the two-month-old Cobra addition, their foreign player, Lamine Thian who is the CESAFI Partner’s Cup Most Valuable Player.
“Lamine is a do it player for the team, the good thing about him is he understands everything right away. He started slow but as the tournament progressed he did very well,” said Reyes.
Read more: It was a long road to the top for SWU-Phinma
Team Captain William Polican, Dyll Roncal, Red Cachuela, and Lamine Thian said that their victory would not have been possible without the guidance of Coach Mike Reyes.
“He is not just a coach to us, but a father, puwede mo talagang lapitan si coach kahit ano, andyan siya palagi,” said Polican.
(He is not just a coach to us but a father. You can really approach coach. He is always there for us.)
The Cobras just like the other teams will be showing off new faces to be playing ball in this year’s CESAFI.
“Actually ang reserve namo sila ang dako og tabang, sila ang mo run sa play para sa duwa nga maka play na gyud”, said Polican.
(Actually, our reserves are a big help to us. They are the ones who run the play during our practice games and now with the coming CESAFI season, they can play.)
The team is still high and on cloud nine with their recent win, but this did not change the fact that they still have to do better and give their all for the upcoming regular season of CESAFI.
“Balik mi sa zero gyud buhat sa tanan ang follow lang gyud mi sa iingon ni coach sa amoa,” said Roncal.
(We start from zero and we just would have to follow the coach’s instructions.)
The Cobras showed that they too can be champions and is now one of the most promising teams to look out for as the regular season of CESAFI will start at the end of the month. / dos