We Are the Champions

If you really want to live forever, you can begin by learning a sport today. Nobody gets smashed. Nobody stays up too late. It is as close as you will get to eternity. But wait; with athletes living breakneck-pace lives and torturously competitive tournaments, sports may not be good for your health, right? Truth be told, athletes live longer than most of us. And it has nothing to do with diet or workout. They set records. They clock best times. They win medals. In short, they make it to history books. Eight young Filipino athletes are doing just that. Each one, whether bowler or boxer, playing against the usual enemy—himself. Each one repeating "I will rule" even in moments of obvious fright. This struggle, this is the most fascinating game of all and athletes, fascinating creatures.

JENNY ROSE GUERRERO
SWIMMER
17 YEARS OLD

Philippine current record holder for 100- and 200-meter breast stroke, Jenny Guerrero was playing sports in dry land when she caught the swimming bug at age nine. "My attempts at taekwondo and tennis were a disaster," she confesses. "But I took to the water swimmingly." So swell was she that she had to transfer to De La Salle-Zobel where training for promising swimmers was available.

She has been part of the national team since she was 14. She admits, though, that she has been missing on vacations since. But what keeps her afloat, aside from a body that is a real to-die-for is the desire for achievement. For Jenny, clocking a bad time is punishing not so much for its humiliation but for the unrest it fuels in her to do better the next time. And this is the best part of the sport, she says. "It’s always just a battle between you and your fears."

Out on the water, she knows she has to keep herself from drowning in her self-doubts. "Out there, you don’t expect someone else to help you."

TAMMY DELA CRUZ-DE GUZMAN
GYMNAST
24 YEARS OLD

For Tammy, life is a breeze if she could spend it. This she means in a literal fashion. In the past, when injuries have forced her out of gymnastics, she just kept coming back—nothing was going to deter her.

Tammy kicked up a storm after winning her team’s lone gold medal in the 1995 18th SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She was voted PSA Gymnast of the Year for the feat. "No gold was expected from us because we were all new in the team," she recalls. "I would consider this the highlight of my career, surprising everyone with a gold from a nobody."

Since then, she has taken on bigger things, in fact taking on the world, too. She was one of two gymnasts sent to the World Gymnastics Championships, the qualifying event for the Olympics. Tammy was splendid, placing 80th among 170 participants in the girls division. The other person sent to the WGC ranked 191st in a horde of the same number of competitors.

These days, she is back in training with high hopes of joining the Asian Games in September. This event is particularly special to her because injuries have already bounced her twice in the past. And while an Asian Games gold would be most welcome for it is the only one she is yet to win, Tammy says that competing would do for her. "Winning is important, but then again it’s how you play the game. If you gave it your best, that’s enough," she explains.

Criticism for losing was never something to daunt Tammy. "I can do things other people can’t. I can fly."

JUAN MIGUEL ELORDE
AMATEUR BOXER
15 YEARS OLD

Of course flyweight Miguel or Mig Elorde has a family name that will never allow him to be a swish. But Mig is not packing brawn to maim envious fools picking on a Flash progeny like him. Most days, he jogs in the early morning and trains in the afternoon in his dream to make it in the big league. Mig claims the habit of training offers a good opportunity for clear thinking and he is not going to pull any punches turning himself into a good boxer. This in the wake of losing by a point in his division on his only major competition—the National Open in Iriga in October of last year. It is a lesson learned with any member of the family. Although being an Elorde almost makes a boxing career irresistible, even inevitable, he knows he must start in the trenches to prove himself.

One and a half years since he started, he has already learned the value of self-control. "I don’t lose my temper that easily anymore," says Mig. But then again, pull off the gloves then he becomes just like any other teenager. He likes playing basketball, billiards, table tennis, and loves the mall, too. In fact, if not for being surprisingly buff at his age, Mig is very much like a kid anxious for his first ever pictorial flashing a nervous smile.

JUAN MARTIN ELORDE
AMATEUR BOXER
17 YEARS OLD

Like his younger brother, Martin or Bai dreams of an Olympic gold medal, too. Last year, he won a gold in the light welterweight division of the National Open. A La Salle basketball varsity player, Bai has been on and off training for boxing. He says it is tough all the time with people expecting nothing else from him and his brother Mig but to win. "You get the feeling that it’s a shame to lose." But he has been warned by family often enough to know how to dodge pressure. "The objective is to pay no attention to it and simply play well," he says with determination. And the best part about being in the same sport as his brother?

"I seem to possess more boldness when fighting," says the young boxer. "The loss of one of us arouses the natural instinct to avenge that. We look out for each other."

CHARISSA MARIE AGUILING
FIGURE SKATER
16 YEARS OLD

There is nothing like an ice princess who is always capped with a warm smile to bring a different spin to our feature. Incoming high-school senior Charissa gives a rundown of the medals she has won in recreational figure skating since she was 10 years old—almost 40 gold medals!

She tried skating when she was nine on a day out with her grandfather. She has been on a roll since. Often she would miss the first quarter exams when tournaments come around the month of August. And apart from her regular skating practice, she also joins inter-school competitions being a part of the school dance troupe. How does she manage? "That’s what my classmates usually ask me," she beams. But somehow she could pull it off. "I still see movies, socialize, and go to the malls," she sweetly says.

Surprisingly, there is no messing the freshness or fun about her. Success even defeat has not spoiled her—she has simply gained in confidence and sprightliness. "I learn everything I can whether I win or lose," says Charissa. In defeat, "I don’t forget anything—I just practice more." And, "Whenever I do something, I think of it as my last, so I give it my best shot."

ROWEN JAY BAUTISTA
BOWLER
24 YEARS OLD

It did not take much for Rowen or RJ, the Philippine record holder for the youngest perfect gamer, to get hooked on tenpins. Knocking down one (yes, just one) pin out of 10 was enough to get him all excited. He was 13, a lifeless bowler who would rather play basketball and yet had a bowling enthusiast for a dad. But one felled pin and the blood in his veins were back.

Two years later, he was already playing perfect games. When asked what his most fun time in the sport was, it is surprising that he tells a story where he lost. It was the ESPN TV finals in 1999. His Malaysian opponent was winning, gyrating on the floor every now and then. In one of JR’s turns he knew it was a strike as soon as the ball left his hand. He danced to announce the hit to the riotous delight of the spectators cheering him on. RJ was clearly second best but he knew he was everyone’s ‘personal favorite’.

The experience taught him that playing his best is a goal higher than personal greatness. And so these days, there are more reasons to take his training seriously. "But an athlete shouldn’t train just because he has to," says he. "One has to want it for himself. " He jogs, bowls, and goes to the gym on most days now. Despite the fact, he laughs, that the evidence of his entire workout is nowhere seen in his spindly frame. Your might is not found in your pecs he seems to say. "It’s in your maturity towards the game."

IRWIN EDWIN DE GUZMAN
LAWN TENNIS PLAYER
16 YEARS OLD

At 16, ranked five in the 18-under group and former number one in the 16-under group, Irwin is not about to point out any career highs. That is despite the fact he has been playing since age nine with the same number of golds tucked under his adolescent belt.

If not for the intervention of his father, Irwin could have gone the way of most boys and played basketball. But his father, a basketball player who has had an injury too many, would have none of it. At age seven, the young Irwin was already playing tennis with his dad’s encouragement. Irwin remembers enjoying his first few games but what he could not forget at all was the challenge. The lure o the game is to fuel his performance to this day. Still a feeling of trepidation would every so often hit him before a game. But if there is any trait that has accrued itself to Irwin through years of playing it is plenty of patience. This he needs especially with his dreams of turning up a racket in the international scene some day.

FRANCISCO VICENTE GARCIA
BRAZILIAN JUJITSU
2nd DEGREE BLUE BELT
26 YEARS OLD

Bringing the world of Brazilian jujitsu to the country is a Herculean task… and Francisco or Pichon probably the most attractive Hercules to do this. "We are the only country in Southeast Asia that plays Brazilian jujitsu," begins Pichon, one of the first few people to promote the game in the Philippines.

The Brazilian style of jujitsu traces its roots to Japanese martial arts. In the early 1900’s, the Gracie family of Brazil modified the motley of techniques into a sport. Local players have competed abroad and are working hard in the hope of getting local accreditation for the game. "If things work out well after we compete in the Jujitsu World Championships in July in Brazil (then that might) help turn this into a national sport."

Players are promoted to white, blue, purple, brown, and black belt with blue, purple and brown belts having four degrees each. With no local black belt holder yet players could only get promotion abroad. In the Philippines, the highest-ranking player is a 4th degree blue belt. He informs, "The blue belt group is already pretty big but the competition team is composed of only seven or eight persons."

Hence Pichon, who teaches Brazilian jujitsu in the Defense Tactics Center (DEFTAC), has made it his life’s mission to spread the word on the sport. He says he has never had to use it for primal aggression. "When people ask me about it, I never brag about what I’m capable of," he remarks. "I really just encourage them to get into Brazilian jujitsu."

And while he could have been in the movies any day, Pichon says that sport with its hard-earned value of discipline is where he feels he found his potential. The same thing he hopes he could uncover in others. "I’d like to accomplish something with my life."