Valandre Chauca tried everything to will the Adamson Soaring Falcons towards victory over the FEU Tamaraws, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
The 5-foot-10 guard contributed 12 points in 29 minutes of action, but it was all for naught, as Adamson folded to FEU, 71-83, Saturday evening at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
However, there was something more important inside the mind of Chauca than just basketball, or getting the win for the sake of maintaining Adamson’s push to return to make the Final Four in the UAAP Season 82 Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Last Friday, a fire broke out around noontime in the residential area located on the San Marcelino Street. Amidst the tragedy that was unfolding, the former Enderun Titan forced himself to remain composed and help as many people as he can.
“I was just leaving practice and I just saw the smoke so I just immediately, (because of) how I was raised, just go and help in any way you can. There’s an internet cafe that needed to take stuff out. So we were moving out desktops and the machinery and the paper, just doing whatever I could. And [then] after 10 minutes, the roof was on fire so we weren’t allowed to go back in,” he explained.
Times of crisis can either make or break a human being. Individuals can either fight and help out, run away or simply freeze under duress. The 24-year-old simply stepped up the plate and did everything that he could, including optimizing one of his social media platforms to help people he had never met beforehand.
“No, I have no idea (who they are). They found me on Twitter. Prior to that, I didn’t know who that was. I just felt like I should help,” said Chauca.
Based on reports, nine individuals were injured after the tragedy, with PHP 5,000,000 worth of damages accounted for. Experts at the scene stated that the situation was under control only by 5:00 PM. With all these circumstances surrounding them, Chauca and the rest of the Soaring Falcons tried to put up a valiant stand, only for the result to not favor them in the end.
“I think that’s the toughest part about today. When the buzzer sounded, it’s not like you just lost,” said the Filipino-Peruvian guard.
“As a team, you lost for everyone in the crowd and letting those people down. Over a thousand people lost everything, 900 of those students… That hurts.”
He may just be a one-and-done student-athlete, but the Unawakanahimo spirit strongly resonates within Chauca. And it all has to do with the school’s environment and student body, which has become a home for the NAASCU finalist.
“I think the difference between Adamson and a lot of the top schools is that Adamson represents the blue-collar type of school.
“Some of the poorer students go to Adamson so it means a lot to me of how I was brought up and how I made it in basketball to represent those types of people — the working class, the people who save up all week to come to our games. It’s not really like — and no shame on La Salle and Ateneo, no disrespect — but a lot of those students are well off. So it means a lot to represent Adamson,” said the product of UC Berkeley.
