Alvin wants to suit for RP squad one last time

The 30 players named to the two Philippine candidates teams set to see action in the 2002 PBA season opening conference continue to sweat it out at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center in Quezon City, not knowing that another man outside is working out probably even harder in hopes of getting a last-minute call to play for flag and country yet again.

This guy is no other than Alvin Patrimonio, a four-time Asian Games veteran who inside him still has the burning desire to don the national colors in international wars, particularly the coming Asiad in Busan, Korea.

"Although I wasn’t invited to join the tryouts, hindi ako nawawalan ng pagasa na makasama sa national team. Mayroon pang first conference (to show my mettle)," Patrimonio told The Star.

"Of course, national team iyan. Kahit apat na beses na akong nakalaro sa Asian Games, gusto ko pa rin makasama dahil para sa bayan iyan," he added. "Trabaho lang ng husto, may awa ang Diyos."

Purefoods team manager Rene Pardo and the Purefoods coaching staff attest to the fact that Patrimonio has been working so hard in practice although he has yet to seal a contract-extension agreement with the ballclub.

Now 35, Patrimonio is seeking a three-year pact with a special provision making him a part of the coaching staff or giving him an office position at the end of the contract. "Okay na kami sa three-year period," he said.

Patrimonio pointed out it will all depend on his showing this year whether he’ll call it quits after 2004. By then he’s 38 and having played 17 seasons in the PBA – only Robert Jaworski (23 seasons), Abet Guidaben (21), Ramon Fernandez (20), Yoyoy Villamin (18) and Abe King (18) played more.

Aside from playing for the national team, Patrimonio said he’s also hoping to win an unprecedented fifth PBA MVP award.

"Goal ko pa rin iyan," said Patrimonio, one of only two players named PBA MVP four times with the other one being his boyhood idol and former coach and teammate Ramon Fernandez.

The former Mapua King Cardinal, who played for the Philippine team in the Asian Games in Seoul in 1986, in Beijing in 1990, Hiroshima in 1994 and Bangkok in 1998, didn’t feel bad he was not included in the list of players invited to join the tryouts for the Busan-bound national squad.

"Hindi pare-pareho ang diskarte ng mga coaches. Baka ngayon, tingin nila hindi ako fit sa team na binubuo. Saka hindi rin naman maganda ang performance ko last year," he said.

But Patrimonio felt his non-inclusion to the RP candidates teams may become a blessing in disguise for him. "Baka magkaroon na naman ako ng magandang season for Purefoods," he said.

The 2001 season, indeed, turned out to be a trying one for Patrimonio, perhaps the toughest of his entire career.

The opposition became bigger and stronger, often dwarfing a man who for so long was undisputedly the league’s premier frontliner.

But Patrimonio thinks there’s another good season coming for him this year.