De Jesus cites discipline, hard work in sweet sweep

MANILA, Philippines - Ramil de Jesus, architect of La Salle’s 10 UAAP women’s volleyball championships, shared what’s making his wards the most dominant the last 20 years.

“Siguro sistema, then hard work and discipline. Siguro iyun ang key (It’s the system plus hard work plus the discipline of the players – those are the keys),” said De Jesus.

A known disciplinarian and master of the game, De Jesus has led the Taft-based spikers to 246 wins in two decades at the helm, highlighting his achievement with three-peat feats first in 2003-05 then in 2010-12.

He considered his latest triumph – a 2-0 sweep of rival Ateneo in the Season 79 finale – one of the sweetest ever.

“Sa lahat ng na-form ko na team ito yung medyo up-and-down ang performance. Sobrang babaw ng bench, wala ka halos mahugot (Of all my teams, this one had a relatively shallow bench and it was quite up-and-down performance throughout the season),” said De Jesus, who was jumping and dancing in celebration with his charges.

With Mika Reyes and Ara Galang graduating after the Season 78 championship run, De Jesus leaned on a roster led by setter Kim Fajardo, last year’s Finals MVP Kim Kiana Dy, libero Dawn Macandili and eventual Season MVP Majoy Baron. Des Cheng, who returned from ACL injury, and Tin Tiamzon, stepped up in time for the last push with the former even earning Finals MVP honor.

“Nag-start kami medyo hilaw ang team. Early part ng first round, natalo kami sa UP, sabi ko pukpok pa tayo, habol pa. Nakakatuwa lang, iyung mga bata, pinakita nila yung determinasyon nila na humabol (We were quite raw at the start of the season. When we lost to UP in the first round, I told them we needed to push harder and I’m  glad they responded),” said De Jesus.

The Lady Spikers finished No. 2 after the elims, dropping both outings to rival and top seed Ateneo, but made the necessary adjustments when they met again in the race-to-two championship series.

Asked about a possible three-peat next tourney, the multi-titled coach said: “Next year? Enjoy ko muna ito bago ko problemahin ang next year (I’ll enjoy this championship first before I think about our three-peat bid next year).”