At the UAAP Season 81 Men’s Tennis Finals Tie 2, a young Gab Tiamson showed up for Ateneo de Manila University and extended the series against National University to a do-or-die four days after.
The Bulldogs, though, still managed to claim the championship trophy, with eventual Most Valuable Player Wilson Oblea taking the lead.
But his opponent in that last UAAP match of his showed his resilience to take it to the distance. That guy was Tiamson.
Days after that loss, the De La Salle Zobel product took the experience to heart.
“Ever since that day that we lost the Final, I’ve been working on conditioning because I’ve lost a lot of matches due to cramps. My coach told me to work harder because ‘We’re there, we can get there’,” the current Blue Eagles captain said.
“But for me, the main difference now is confidence. I know I worked for it, and I just trust that my body can do it because I believe in the work I’ve done.”
It was still not a perfect, cramps-free season for him, and it was not a smooth ride for Ateneo. But the now-senior just leaned on his support system to pull off his heroics from that previous Finals appearance to gift Ateneo its third straight championship appearance in the same number of seasons.
Tiamson shared, “I just have faith in myself and in God that He will not make me go through something I can’t handle. And I always tell myself that for every point. And, of course, I have my teammates that support me and my coaches. Everyone here, honestly. I can see the crowd was bigger than the regular.
“So, I have everyone here to support me.”
After taking down University of the East in two ties in its virtual best-of-three showdown, Tiamson took the extra day off to “rest.” Then he went back to work in preparation for the Finals starting on Wednesday against University of Santo Tomas.
“I’ll rest and I’ll spend it with the family. It’s Sunday, so it’s Family Day. Monday and Tuesday, it’s back to training and school. It’s my Finals week coming up, so I have to study as well – remember that,” the fifth-year Management major said.
“So, we have to keep working. It’s not much more we could change I think in just two days; we just have to polish little things that can win us games.”
