ATENEO may have stumbled to a 0-5 start, but it’s gonna be a while before these struggles deter the Blue Eagles from losing hope for their UAAP Season 88 campaign.
Credit for that goes to team captain Taks Fujimoto, who has taken on the challenge of keeping the blue-and-white's morale high in the midst of their ongoing dry spell.
While the squad has struggled in its first five outings, a few signs of life have emerged in the form of taking a set against powerhouse archrival La Salle and nearly avoiding the sweep yet again against Far Eastern University last Wednesday.
For Fujimoto, those performances are enough to show that their first win is well on its way.
“I think we just really need to focus on showing what we've trained for and what our game plan is,” she explained to SPIN.ph.
“There are times na we get frustrated, when we can't do the things we've planned. I mean, it's really hard to bring your 110-percent every game.
“But I'm really hopeful naman with the team because I can really see na we really want to get our first win, no matter sino yung kalaban namin. We just need to keep pushing ourselves, pushing each other, and also believing na kaya talaga namin manalo.”
Keep up the One Big Fight
Because of their current situation, which pales in comparison to the dynastic Ateneo of yesteryears, the team, especially Fujimoto, has been in the crosshairs of online backlash and harsh criticism from fans.
But as the Davao native explained, it has long been the best advice she received that she and the Blue Eagles avoid reading online criticisms.
“I mean, I really don't read anything online. Actually, I'm really social media-banned right now. May naririnig lang ako, but like, they really don't know what is happening inside the court, inside our teammates,” she said.
“Sinasabihan ko naman din sila na do not read, because they don't know. They're not there in our training, they're not there every day. So like, they don't have actually any say in what is happening.”
With a program as highly-touted as Ateneo, the eyes that are on Fujimoto and Co. number much more compared to their opponents.
Luckily for her, they also aren’t short of ates who guide them through all the hurdles, even after their tenure in Katipunan.
“Yung mga seniors ko rin dati. Like, sila, ate Vanie [Gandler], ate Dani [Ravena], they really helped me. Sila, ate Faith [Nisperos], yun talaga, really helped me na to always, um, sila ate Ly [Valdez] din because they visited our training,“ she said.
“They also said na no matter what other people say, just believe in yourself, just believe what you've trained for, believe all the hardship you've done. So, that's enough for us.”
And not only did the guidance rub off on Fujimoto, but also on all of Ateneo, which she has carefully guided to learn to navigate this current losing streak.
“I really talk to them kung anong kailangan ng mga teammates namin individually. Kasi if you really want them to improve, if you really want everyone to improve or fight, you should understand one another,” she said.
“Lalo na sa mga hard times na ganito, especially ngayon, na we're still winless, so we're still hoping na we will do great or do better in our next few games for this Round 1.”
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