CREAMLINE stands alone as the league’s most successful pro volleyball club with 10 PVL titles and 19 consecutive podium finishes.
READ: Is Creamline dominance at an end? Coach, players respond
The Cool Smashers have long taken pride on their ‘good vibes’ mantra and tight-knit chemistry over the years, featuring the likes of MVP stars and, at one point in time collegiate rivals, Alyssa Valdez, Jema Galanza, Tots Carlos and Michele Gumabao among others.
Gumabao, who led Creamline’s bronze-medal conquest with 17 points against Chery Tiggo, shared one thing about the 10-time champions that their legions of fans might not know about them.
Their dynastic success over the last eight years also had more than a few small feuds among themselves.
Those rough patches, rare as they come, all played part in making Creamline the competitive champion force it has grown to be.
“Sobrang competitive namin, as in. Happy-happy kami sa court pero kung makikita niyo kami sa training, nag-aaway-away din kami minsan sa sobrang competitive namin and sa sobrang hardworking talaga ng bawat isa,” Gumabao told SPIN.ph.
“Our practices aren't always happy. Kailangan talagang nakikitaan pa rin namin yung bawat isa na gusto namin manalo. Feeling ko, yun yung mga hindi nakikita ng mga tao na serious side namin sa practice na talagang 100 percent kami.”
Creamline continues to raise the bar
Through championships and letdowns, Gumabao remains grateful for how the Cool Smashers have consistently kept a high standard in all that they do, making her a much stronger person in her seven-year stint with the pink-and-blue.
“What I'm most thankful for sa team namin is the love that the team has. Grabe talaga yung pagmamahal ng bawat isa, from the management, from our coaches, to all the players, to our family outside of the court,” Gumabao said.
“Yung love and yung sacrifice, makikita mo talaga every single day na pumapasok kami ng practice na 100 percent talaga lahat. Yung kahit pagod ka na, wala kang tulog, kahit talo, andun yung competitiveness ng bawat isa.
“It’s because love talaga namin, di lang yung ginagawa namin, pero yung bawat isa talaga. Yun talaga yung nagki-keep sa'min together, na hindi kami bibitaw.”
And as everyone has known Creamline for from the very beginning, in Gumabao’s words, “good vibes lang kami and more love.”
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