Kevin Ferrer during the UAAP Smart Elite Launch.
Eight years. That’s how long Kevin Ferrer has thirsted for a championship.
And in his final year for University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP, he just wants to get it done.
“This season, ine-aim ko at ng team talaga yung championship. Maraming mawawala sa amin kaya gusto talaga naming all-out na kami,” Ferrer said.
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(This season, we’re really aiming for the championship. There’s many players who will be graduating this year so we really want to go all-out.)
A heavily-recruited prospect after being named as the Most Valuable Player of the juniors’ division for the UST Tiger Cubs, the athletic forward shunned offers from big name schools and stayed in España.
He became a part of the Growling Tigers squad under coach Pido Jarencio which surprised a lot of fans by advancing to the Finals, but both finished runner-ups to Ateneo in 2011 and La Salle in 2012.
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On his final year, the 22-year-old is ready to shed all the heartaches of the past and write a fitting ending to his UST lore.
This time, Ferrer is armed with additional experience after his stints with the Gilas cadets, most recently in the gold medal-winning run in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games.
“Sobrang laking bagay nun kasi iba yung coaching sa national team,” he said, sharing those valuable knowledge to his collegiate squad. “Yung mga natutunan ko dun, dinala ko sa UST at sobrang sinapuso naman ng team yung mga sinasabi ko.”
(It’s really a big thing because the coaching in the national team is really different. What I learned there, I brought to UST and the team really took to heart everything I said.)
Maturity has been one of the weakness in Ferrer’s game, but he’s ready to embrace the leader role for the Tigers in his final run at the title.
“Di ko na lang pinapansin yung pressure (of leading the team),” he said. “Basta ang gagawin ko is laruin lang yung best ko. Sabi ko nga, all-out.”
(I’m not paying attention on the pressure of leading the team. All I’m going to do is play my best. As I’ve said, all-out.)