MANILA, Philippines — A book celebrating the Far Eastern University Tamaraws run to the 2015 UAAP Men’s Basketball championship was launched last December 2.
Titled "Dugout Diaries: The Championship Run", the book provides a look at the inner workings of a team looking to regain lost glory.
Written by the team’s consultant for the formation of student-athletes Ed Garcia, "Dugout Diaries: The Championship Run" portrays the behind the scenes workings of the program installed by its former Coach Nash Racela (that is being continued today by his younger sibling, Olsen) told through reflections and anecdotes.
“Essentially, this story about the 20th UAAP championship by FEU illustrates the development of character through sports,” summed up Garcia.
“Defeat is the best teacher because in 2014, FEU lost to National University in the finals. One of the key things the coaching staff did in addition to honing their basketball skills was molding them as persons with feeling, dreams and emotions.”
That UAAP Season 78 in 2015 saw the FEU Tamaraws post an 11-3 record in the eliminations, second to their finals foe, the University of Santo Tomas.
The Tamaraws knocked out Ateneo in the semi-finals before winning it against UST in three matches. Mac Belo was named the finals’ Most Valuable Player.
“That was a 10-year wait for the championship,” added Garcia.
“One of the things that we were teaching the players, we are all from different places and regions, with different backgrounds and beliefs. But somehow we are inter-connected as one family. All life is a gift and if we understand that and we are a family, we do everything for the greater good.”
“It’s a process,” summed up Garcia. “If in Ateneo, they teach us to be men for others; here in FEU, my task was to create student-athletes for others.”
Garcia is an alumnus of the Ateneo de Manila University who took up post-graduate studies in Colombia, Peru and Mexico. He was also a member of the Philippine Constitutional Commission in 1986 that framed the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
As a professor, Garcia has taught in Mexico, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Norway. Locally, he taught political science at the University of the Philippines and Latin American Studies at the Ateneo.
"Dugout Diaries: The Championship Run" can be purchased at the FEU Publications Facebook page.