Sara Castañeda is back in the fold for De La Salle University, this time as a member of the team’s coaching staff.
The two-time UAAP champion has been seen on the bench with a laptop in La Salle’s past three matches as she performs her role as a scouting analyst.
While it is a far cry from her past stint as a La Salle player, it is something she has found to be quite fulfilling, to say the least in this UAAP Season 86 Women’s Football Tournament.
“It’s fun. It’s interesting. It works my brain,” said Castañeda.
“What I do is more of just looking at the positions of where people are and the organization of everybody. Yeah, just mainly those things.”
As La Salle seeks to reclaim a title it last won back in Season 81, no stones are left unturned when it comes to preparation.
The Lady Booters are flying high right now as they currently top the standings with nine points and a plus-12 goal difference behind wins against the Ateneo Blue Eagles, UP Fighting Maroons, and UST Lady Booters.
Castañeda, who scored a crucial penalty in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup that sealed a 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup ticket for the Philippines Women’s National Football Team, did not need much convincing to take up this new role in the program.
(C) Pam Puri/UAAP
“He (Alvin Ocampo) just asked if I wanted to sit on the bench. And I said, because he wanted, I don’t know, he said that my presence would help some of the girls,” said the Season 78 Rookie of the Year, who is the older sister of current Lady Booter Anicka.
“So I was like sure. I mean I wasn’t doing anything and I would train with them sometimes because Anicka’s there so I would just join in and then I was like okay might as well help them out and then I was like, ‘Coach, I can help you with the analysis if you like’, and then that’s it.”
The Kaya FC midfielder stated that things remain the same between her and the Lady Booters considering that she is part of the coaching staff now while some of the current players were her teammates back in the day.
As La Salle gears up for its Season 85 final rematch against defending champion Far Eastern University, there is no doubt that Castañeda will provide input for the Lady Booters.
For her, it is about making the most out of her new role.
Any potential career as a coach down the line is something that isn’t in her headspace yet.
“I don’t know about that yet. That’s like a whole other level. So I don’t know. I haven’t really explored that yet,” she said.
