MORE than a few teams put premium in culture, verbalizing those principles and speaking them to reality.
But for La Salle, all of them are not just putting it in writing, they’re literally signing off on it and notarizing it to a binding contract.
This is the Green Archers’ 'Code of Honor' for the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament.
“This is something that we’ve built, that the team built, and we’re gonna live by those codes 'cause that’s gonna be our North Star,” coach Topex Robinson told SPIN.ph of the manifesto.
Team captain Mike Phillips added: “The 'Code of Honor' is putting our culture on paper, into something that says this is who we are and who we want to be. This is how we want to police ourselves, how we carry ourselves. And everyone agreed and contributed.”
The document, curated during their team-building in Silang, Cavite months prior to the season, made the La Salle team, from the players to coaches, put pen to paper, as they wanted to create a tangible document which they will try to abide from now until the foreseeable future.
It was instigated by the team’s leaders as response to what they learned from motivational speakers and transformative people that talked to them during that recollection.
“We had all these things that we want to see on the team. And sometimes, we’re too shy to call each other out. So we went around and heard from everyone,” said Phillips.
“We heard our teammates saying that they want to be on time and things of that nature. Some also spoke like, ‘Hey, I want to call you out and talk to you about things and not be made fun of.’ Just things like that were in there.”
Robinson furthered, “Anybody has the authority to call out anybody. It’s accountability, but with love and respect.”
It’s one that isn’t that veering away from the Green Archers shot-caller’s longtime tenets of 'Love, Serve, and Care' – core values he has carried from his time in Lyceum in the NCAA which he has adapted since moving to Taft.
Another weapon in La Salle arsenal
Having this 'Code of Honor' should keep the Green Archers in line in this redemption tour, especially in a season where it lost marquee superstar Kevin Quiambao, but added blue-chip transferees in Kean Baclaan, Jacob Cortez, Mason Amos, and Luis Pablo.
For Robinson, it’s a much-needed dose of reality for a team that has an overflow of talent, but of course, may have the tendency of slacking off.
“We know that the team that can beat La Salle is La Salle itself. What worries me is being complacent, that once we think we’re better than everybody, we’re not gonna challenge ourselves to be the best version that we can be,” he said.
“So it’s always making sure to keep them grounded, as well as myself. Know that we’re a work in progress, and we always have to police each other. It’s one that everybody committed to, that everybody signed, so we want to make sure we’re following that.”
And if things do fall into place? Better change the name of that 'Code of Honor' into 'Code of Champions.'
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