CHICAGO — It’s a slice of paradise on earth where the lush green Sierra Madre mountains meet the blue waters of the Pacific ocean.
But this picturesque municipality of Dicapulao in the province of Aurora became the tragic scene where Ateneo players Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili died in a drowning incident.
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As wild theories and speculations ran rampant on social media, this is what we pieced together based on conversations with players' family members, sources within the team, and witnesses.
After a Fil-Oil EcoOil Preseason Cup game against Adamson in San Juan City which Ateneo won, 72-52, on Saturday, the Blue Eagles bussed to Aurora on Sunday (June 7).
TEAM BONDING.
Shortly after their arrival at the Hermanos Leisure Farm Resort in Dipaculao town, the team assembled for a meeting. Dinner followed and then more meetings. Bedtime was around 9 p.m.
At the break of dawn on Monday, (June 8) the team went for a four-kilometer run beginning at about 4 a.m.
Upon returning to the resort, the players cooked down and had breakfast sometime around 7:30 a.m., followed by more team meetings.
At around 10 a.m., the players engaged in a lively dodgeball competition and I was told that everybody had fun frolicking under the sun, a fresh breeze blasting their faces.
LUNCH INTERVENED.
By 2:30 p.m., the coaching staff and players were in the water for aquatic exercises that included running in the water, a resistance training that has been scientifically proven to help with core strength and agility.
Minutes later, sizable rogue waves pummeled the shores and created mayhem.
Ten minutes later, a distress 111 call was made.
What followed was perhaps the most heartbreaking event in UAAP basketball history, which claimed the lives of Rene Baterbonia, 19, and Divine Adili, 21.
Around 5:30 p.m. the following day (Tuesday), the team arrived back from Dicapulao to the Ateneo campus where grief counselors and school officials awaited.
After a team dinner, the players were allowed to rejoin their families.
It’s been one heartrending week for the coaches, these young players, and most of all to the loved ones of Baterbonia and Adili.
Keep them in your prayers.
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