As the UAAP Season 79 Badminton Season is now underway, the De La Salle University Lady Shuttlers are on a mission to bounce back from a heartbreaking setback last season when they failed to reach the finals. This year, they parade a lineup that is hungry for a title they had last tasted in Season 72, and one of the leaders emerging is Lady Shuttler Celina “Lin” Javier.
Lin started her love for the sport from her roots in Ilocos Sur, playing with her mom in pick-up games of the less-popular sport in the province. A coach then invited her to play and the rest, as they say, is history.
Javier then entered the Green-and-White team via tryouts and has worked her way up as a co-captain with shuttler Kristelle Salatan. As for her personal goals, her stint as a Lady Shuttler should be fun despite the challenges, and she wants to have a team-first mentality throughout the season.
“Sobrang masaya siya and challenging (as team captain) kasi marami samin is sa national team. Ang personal goal ko talaga is for the team itself, hindi yung sa individual, like in the future kailangan ko maging olympian. Ngayon talaga, ang perspective ko sa team is for the Lady Shuttlers,” said the 4th year Advertising Management student.
The 19-year-old Javier admitted that her entrance to the Taft crew had come with struggles in terms of her weight, but she worked hard through the years. She entered DLSU with an 89kg frame, but has managed to drastically reduce it to 63kg over her span as a Lady Shuttler.
“Pagpasok ko talaga, pag nasa training hirap talaga ako kasi lahat ng kasama ko fit, tapos ako lagi nasa huli,” she said.
“First step ko is magbawas as part na rin ng discipline ko as an athlete and commitment sa team.”
As a co-captain, she mentioned that it will not be a smooth ride towards the championship, but she retains the mindset of helping her teammates and being a role model in terms of hard work.
“Sa chemistry namin, honestly masasabi kong hindi siya ganun ka-solid kung ico-compare sa previous seasons kasi may mga nawala,” the skipper remarked.
“Ang expectations nila sa akin is magawa ko yung best ko, na andun lang ako sa teammates ko and motivate sila sa emotional side and push ko sila beyond their limits.”
Aside from smashing shuttlecocks on the badminton court, Lin is also active in terms of acting and theater in the school. She is widely-known as La Salle’s ‘Valak’, a character in the movie Conjuring, which Javier used to promote a show in the school’s theater plays. However, as a daunting task of being a student-athlete-slash-artist, the vision is still laser-sharp in terms of delivering for the sport and to the team as a whole.
“Pinaprioritize ko pa rin kasi pag pasok ko sa La Salle, badminton na eh. Andun na yung commitment ko sa team and lately na yung acting.”
And as their journey continues, Javier is willing to contribute whatever she can for the team and shrug off the pressure about being one of the top-tier schools in the sport in the tournament.
Catch the Lady Shuttlers in their mission to be back on top of the badminton field at their games played in the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
