Bea De Leon is a picture of unrelenting confidence.
In her five-year stay with the Ateneo Lady Eagles, the 5-foot-11 middle blocker displays the same composure in front of a crowd of 20,000 or an almost empty arena.
Safe to say, she rarely gets nervous.
“I was telling everyone that I only get nervous for two things – my first game and Ateneo-La Salle – so put that together, and you just like shrug,” the 22-year-old Atenean quipped..
Moreover, the Ateneo co-captain has always been candid.
She had mostly played well against La Salle, but taking on their archrivals right on the first day of the UAAP Season 81 Women’s Volleyball Tournament gave her a totally new feeling.
De Leon managed eight points in Ateneo’s four-set loss to La Salle but admitted that her team still had a long way to go to contend in her final UAAP season.
“We played very poorly, I think that’s the gist. There were a lot of things going on in everyone’s mind – nerves, excited – it will be like that sometimes,” lamented De Leon.
“Iyon nga, there were a lot of things going on in everyone’s head including me siguro. It really boiled down to us, it was all us.”
The Lady Eagles get a shot at their first win against University of Santo Tomas on Wednesday.