Gilas Pilipinas Women stalwart Janine Pontejos loves to see her players fighting as she leads the CEU Lady Scorpions as head coach in the WMPBL.
Suffering a loss in sports is always a tough pill to swallow — especially when it comes via a 56-point beatdown from your opponents.
But for CEU Lady Scorpions head coach Janine Pontejos, her team’s 102-46 loss against the Galeries Tower Skyrisers wasn’t too much of a sting; mostly because of how her players continued to push no matter what the score was.
Faced with tough competition and more veteran players on the other side of the court, the reigning WNCAA Champions were caught on the backfoot.
Still, Pontejos, a competitive athlete herself, told her players to continue on until the final buzzer to which they responded positively.
“Sakin kasi, proud naman ako sa mga bata kasi nakita ko lumalaban sila eh. Yun nga, underdog kami so, sinasabi ko sa kanila, lumaban lang sila hanggang sa huli, hanggang matapos yung oras. Wala kong pakealam kung matambakan tayo basta nakikita kong lumalaban sila, so okay na ako dun,” Pontejos said after the game on Wednesday at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig.
She admitted that the lapses were on the part of herself, especially since they lacked ample preparation time before the inaugural WMPBL Invitational.
But only with their first game out of the way, Pontejos said that there is still much she can expect from the team, especially as they go through the games and gain more experience against teams outside of the WNCAA.
“So far, ngayon, nakukulangan pa rin talaga ako kasi madami parin akong lapses sa mga bata kasi short kami sa preparation, so, at least nakita ko naman na yun nga, lumalaban sila so mag-adjust na lang kami in the next game. Mahaba pa naman yung preparation namin for the second game,” she said.
Looking ahead as well, Pontejos said that she is eager to show her students how it’s done with the most practical of lessons: playing the games herself.
With the WMPBL set to turn pro later this year, Pontejos said that she is planning on joining a team and being able to practice what she preaches as she returns to the court herself.
“Yes, hopefully sana makapaglaro ako. Naiinggit ako, kasi gusto ko nang pumasok pero syempre as a head coach, kailangan pigilan mo yung sarili mo na kailangan i-compose mo rin yung mga bata,” said Pontejos.
“Ako, sana makapaglaro rin ako in the next season na to. Para at least mapakita ko sa mga bata na yung mga tinuturo ko is ina-apply ko rin,” she added.
Pontejos currently juggles her head coaching job in CEU with her national team duties with Gilas Pilipinas. She is a three-time gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games.