Though decorated head coach Aldin Ayo has been with University of Santo Tomas for almost three months, he and his staff have yet to have a complete practice with the next batch of Growling Tigers.
While the majority of the squad will be holdovers from last season, the rest are either still finishing high school (CJ Cansino, Sherwin Concepcion, Joshua Marcos, Kobe Caballero, Mike Enriquez), are in the D-League (Renzo Subido, Embons Bonleon), or are still healing from injuries (Steve Akomo).
With the pre-season tournaments about to open its curtains on April, Ayo and his staff deemed that they need to gather their troops as soon as possible. And what better way to build brotherhood than by bringing together the team in his hometown of Sorsogon.
“Hindi pa kami nakukumpleto sa practice since karamihan ng recruits namin are coming from high school. With the preseason tournaments coming up, we needed a team building session,” shared Ayo, who was watching the NBTC National Finals at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“That is why yung team will stay sa house namin sa Sorsogon during Holy Week.
“We would like to thank yung parents ng mga players for allowing us to borrow yung mga anak nila,” he added.
The Growling Tigers arrived in Sorsogon on Saturday evening and will return to Manila on Tuesday, April 3.
But it won’t be all work for Ayo and his squad.
“Madami kaming naka-plano sa 10 days na iyon. Siyempre we’ll have conditioning sessions and we’ll have time to go around sa tourist spots namin,” Ayo added.
“Most importantly, we will also do our spiritual obligations for Holy Week.”
