When Tab Baldwin was asked who he wanted to bring to the press room after Ateneo’s sweep of UAAP Season 82 Men’s Basketball tournament elimination round, he brought his five seniors — namely Thirdy Ravena, Matt Nieto, Mike Nieto, Isaac Go, and Adrian Wong.
He wanted them all hear every single word he had to utter about their season.
“The sacrifices that these guys have made — this is the hardest practicing team that I’ve ever coached in forty years.”
During his stellar four-decade career as a head coach, Baldwin has worked in numerous parts of the world. He has handled numerous national and club teams from countries like Malaysia, New Zealand, Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan.
He has won five NBL championships; been named coach of the year in New Zealand four times; and has led the Tall Blacks to the World Championship’s Final Four.
So saying that really has meaning to him.
And it stems from what he calls “a misconception” of how the Blue Eagles play.
Ateneo has always been called a team of precision, a squad filled with disciplined players, and a machine that only runs because of his system. But Baldwin debunked these assumptions, saying that all their accolades are because of the players’ hard work.
“What I would like to say about our basketball team is there’s been a lot of talk about the UP team, a team that has a great heart. And I agree with that. We’ve seen that throughout the second round and throughout the season. They’ve won tough games, they’ve won games right down at the end, and they’ve shown great character in those games,” said the 61-year-old mentor, who is in his fourth year with Ateneo. “But there’s been a grave misconception about my basketball team.
“When they talk about us being kind of super-efficient and almost robotic, I don’t think that people understand the amount of heart that it takes to build the basketball team that we have built, and the job particularly that these five seniors have done in that.”
For starters, Baldwin has made it a point for his players to be students first and athletes second. As cliché as it sounds, he really does enforce it.
Besides the rigorous schedule of being an Atenean, there’s his regimen for the Blue Eagles that involves intensive workouts — both on the court and in the gym.
So what is heart? Well, for Baldwin, it’s the passion of Blue Eagles for the life they chose.
“This is a team that has a tremendous amount of heart because what determines heart?
“That doesn’t come because you’re super disciplined or because you’re robotic guys that just do what you’re told. It’s driven by an unbelievable sense of determination, passion, belief in one another, and I think that’s what equates the heart. And I’m just surrounded — not just these five, but I’m surrounded by a basketball team that humbles me as a competitor with how much heart they have, with how much passion they have to succeed,” he expressed.
“And what you see out there is not the by-product of some machine that we have put together. That’s the by-product of a group of men that commit themselves to one another and commit their heart to a cause,” he added.
Though having a sweep under their belt is already a huge accomplishment, it’s far from their end goal, which is to win another championship. But for Baldwin, this was the most opportune time to thank his players for inspiring him to continue what he loves doing.
“Our job is far from done, and in fact, it’s going to get harder. But at this point, I can say that I’m very proud of these men. And I know that they will not take that as any sort of sign to relax. In fact, we practice tomorrow. So our job is far from over. We’ve enjoyed every step of the way. I believe we have an outstanding basketball team, but we haven’t proven ourselves at the last hurdle yet,” he shared.
“I look forward to working with these guys for another few weeks to achieve that if we can. We will pay all due respect to our opponents. And when I say that, that means we will go out there with everything that we have because that’s what they will deserve,” he continued.
“So thank you all very much. I’d love for these guys to speak their mind and their heart because these are true Ateneans, and that’s something special in this world.”
