UC Webmasters head coach Kern Sesante (sitting) during a huddle with his players in one of their Cesafi games last year. | By Glendale Rosal
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Kern Sesante, the head coach of the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters men’s basketball team, is faced with a tough mission of forming a cohesive and more mature squad when they plunge into action in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi).
The Webmasters will start their campaign on Saturday, September 30, 2023, against the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) Wildcats at 3:30 PM and they will return into action on October 5 against newcomer University of the Philippines at 6:00 PM.
Sesante said he has plenty of tough tasks to accomplish this season, one of them is to gel his core roster with six new players with the hopes of improving their second-place finish last season.
With the departure of their team captain and their main point guard Paul Galinato who graduated from college, Sesante has been trying to mold some of his players to fill the huge gap.
Also, one of their most reliable forwards, Luigi Gabisan won’t be wearing the gold and blue uniform anymore opting to focus on his studies.
READ: FACES OF CEBU: Kern Sesante, 39, lawyer and basketball coach
Last year, the Webmasters finished second in the college division behind powerhouse University of the Visayas, 1-2, in their best-of-three finals series.
“A lot of last-minute adjustments were made concerning the final lineup due to a string of unfortunate injuries to some of our old players, Diaz, Quimado, Dinglasan. At the onset, the UC coaches were very glad because we were able to maintain the core players after strictly monitoring their respective academic performances,” Sesante told CDN Digital.
“Hence, you can just imagine our dismay when the aforementioned players encountered injuries while preparing for Season 23.”
A MIX OF ROOKIES AND VETERANS
Besides the core roster, Sesante will field six rookies who are mostly UC Baby Webmasters.
Despite a promising roster, Sesante’s biggest challenge this season is similar to last season and that is to form a cohesive and mature team.
“I focused on improving the maturity and cohesiveness of the team. Out of the 7 new players on the roster, only one is relatively new. For the old core players from last year, I am hoping the experience last season would be a boost to their confidence and would also somehow grow their maturity on the court,” said Sesante.
“I think the team lacked maturity and cohesion in the previous Cesafi season. I can say a big factor came from the fact that most guys in the team last season were rookies and were still very young.”
Sesante said he is confident his wards can hurdle all obstacles this season especially if his players are injury-free, given that some of his boys are nursing off-season injuries.
“We are praying for a healthy season for the guys,” Sesante concluded. /rcg
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