At times, Cherry Rondina’s heart and drive to win can work as a double-edged sword for the UST Golden Tigresses.
In their opening day match against Ateneo, the Tigresses were outplayed and frustrated into submission. When the matched ebbed into grueling back-and-forths, UST was the one first to fold.
Making her debut as captain, Rondina admitted that she was overly-eager and hurt her team’s effort.
“‘Yun ‘yung sobrang nadown ako sa sarili ko talaga kasi parang ‘yun ‘yung nagbigay sa amin ng pressure na ganito yung mga expectations nila,” the 5-foot-5 open spiker admitted.
“Kunwari may mga naririnig kaming ganito ganyan siguro doon kami na-pressure. Ako aminado ako na overconfidence siguro and alam ko na sobrang hyper ko or ganado lang talaga ako maglaro tapos ‘di na kami nakakabalik sa mga galaw namin. Nawalan kami ng receive yun nga walang nag-uusap. Although meron naman kaso nga lang hindi naririnig kasi sobrang ingay talaga ng crowd,” the 20-year-old furthered.
“Siguro ako (yung overconfident) parang kitang kita naman kanina wala kaming receive tapos yung bola tas ako nawalan na ko ng diskarte hindi ko alam nawala talaga ako kanina pero yun nga tinatry ko naman ibalik yun.”
Rondina scored 10 points but sat out most of the third set. The two-time UAAP gold medalist in beach volleyball didn’t mind sitting down, just that she could not contribute.
“Hindi ko na inisip yun kasi I know na lahat kami makakacontribute and siguro nilabas ako ni coach kasi baka yung reason na ganito wala si sisi pero kasi naniniwala naman talaga ako sa teammates ko na kaya din nila kaso nga lang nahihirapan kami icontrol ibalik,” the Cebuana added.
UST needed a leader and it falls on skipper Rondina to get his troops in-line.
“Accept ko naman ‘yun [na kulang ako sa leadership] kasi ikaw rin mismo pag nasa loob ka madadala ka rin eh,” the UST junior said.
“Nahirapan magkadinigan siguro yun lang pero ang kulang namin talaga is communication sa isa’t isa sa team talaga kasi sabi nga ni coach kanina panget pa laro namin pero dumidikit kami what more kung gumanda laro namin.”
