In the Tab Baldwin-era of Ateneo de Manila University’s men’s basketball team, the Blue Eagles were able to constantly replenish their roster by finding talents mostly from three schools – Ateneo High School, La Salle Green Hills, and, on rare occasions, Xavier School.
Of course, the Blue Eagles were also able to find some luck overseas, coming across prospects abroad that were able to meet the strict academic standards of Ateneo.
The pandemic has affected the development of both the programs of the Blue Eaglets and the Golden Stallions, though. Meanwhile, the current Greenies batch either went to Taft Avenue or to the other side of Katipunan.
On Monday, Baldwin was able to recruit two new talents. And they came from all the way south – Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu.
During the unveiling of Raffy Celiz and Michael Asoro, the American-Kiwi head coach made a promise: that this will just be the start of creating synergy among all Jesuit schools.
(C) SHS-Ateneo de Cebu
“We see that link will be greater and that link will be especially forged on the landscape of the blue blood which is two Ateneo schools. We would like to see that extended to the other Ateneo schools in the country as well,” said Baldwin in the press conference held at SHS-ADC. “That’s something that we will be working on and certainly this will be the flagship.
“It’s been successful and we see that it will continue to be successful and we are here to help Coach Rommel (Rasmo) with his program. He is not just living to win a championship this year or next year but he is really living for his players and their development. We just want to be a part of that process,” he continued.
“We also have the Jesuit priests sitting up here who also think that once you bleed blue, you always bleed blue and we want to see more of that.”
Currently, there are nine Jesuit-run schools in the country. Besides Ateneo de Manila, SHS, and Xavier, there are Ateneo campuses in Iloilo, Davao, Naga, Cagayan, and Zamboanga.
But the synergy will not just be for the student-athletes.
Baldwin and his lead assistant Sandy Arespacochaga will also be helping out the basketball program directors and head coaches of each school.
(C) Ron Tolin
“Coach Sandy and myself have been here a few times. We’ve come in and worked with Coach Rommel. Coach Rommel and Coach Francis [Auquico] have also come over to us. We have a pretty close relationship as coaches and as basketball programs,” said Baldwin.
“The way we run our offense and defense is the way how Coach Tab and Coach Sandy run theirs. Last July, naka-practice sila sa ADMU and nakatulong yun sa decision nila (Asoro and Celis) to stay with ADMU. That’s a big factor,” added Rasmo.
Learning though is not just a one-way street.
Despite all the accolades he has, Baldwin also bared that he also learned a lot from Rasmo.
“People tend to think that as you climb the ladder, the learning only goes in one direction. Last time I was here two months ago, from that day forward – my players will be cursing these two guys (Rasmo and Auquico), I instituted a new drill that I got from him,” said Baldwin.
“Now, we have a new drill that we call the ‘Cebu Drill’ and it’s second nature to these guys. It’s just one small example on how we learn from one another.”
