Angeli Tabaquero. Photo by Mark Giongco/INQUIRER.net
Angeli Tabaquero may be wearing a sling over her surgically-repaired right shoulder, but there’s not an ounce of discomfort on her face while taking over practice as coach of Poveda’s high school volleyball team.
There may not be an exact substitute to playing volleyball, but for the former University of Santo Tomas star-turned-coach, coaching comes close. There’s that sense of fulfillment and gratification that comes with it.
“I’m actually enjoying it. I even quit my corporate job just to stay here. First, it’s my passion. I so love volleyball. It’s my fuel for everyday. And being with the kids, nakakagaan ng feeling, nakakabata yung feeling. Nakakagaan sa pakiramdam,” Tabaquero, who turns 27 this month, shared during a lengthy conversation with INQUIRER.net on a downcast Wednesday morning.
“Most especially, may dumadaan talaga sa aking mga bata na zero skills. Doon ako natutuwa kasi nakikita ko yung sarili ko sa kanila when I was still young. Doon ako nagsimula and kapag nakikita mo na nagpo-progress yung skills nung bata hindi mo ma-explain yung feeling na parang natulungan ko siya somehow.”
“The power to affect change sa bata, ibang klaseng stoked yung nararamdaman. Naiintindihan siguro yon ng kapwa ko coaches yung feeling.”
Tabaquero is on her fifth year of coaching and she still asks her players the same question from time to time.
Player’s coach
“Am I being strict?” The players give her the same response: “Coach, no.”
She was the coach’s player back in her playing years in the UAAP and now, she has become a player’s coach.
“I’m more of a barkada-type of coach,” Tabaquero, who started out as coach of Poveda’s grade school team, said as one of her players who passed by cheered her on, “Go, coach.”
But there’s always a fine line and Tabaquero, no matter how deep her relationship gets with her team, knows how to impose herself when needed.
“When the time comes that I need to make a point, we’re not friends, I’m your coach now. There’s really a fine line,” she said. “When you lose that line between yourself as a coach and your player, the player goes in a different direction.”
“But you can’t be too strict as well. It also has a different effect on your players especially with their young age.”
Her coaching style reflects the way she is and how she plays the game. She’s stern yet lenient as a teacher and bubbly off the court yet menacing around the net as an outside hitter.
It’s been four years since she took over as Poveda’s high school coach and this year, she said with a heavy heart, will be her last.
Tabaquero revealed she’s currently in talks with a UAAP school for a coaching position with their women’s volleyball team, though, she opted not to disclose the name of the school until a deal has been made.
She may have given up a marketing job to continue her coaching career, but playing the game is something Tabaquero won’t pass up. If she could play with a sling over her shoulder, she probably would. Tabaquero still has a contract with Foton in the Philippine Superliga, but it would take months before her injury heals.
“Playing,” Tabaquero, a two-time UAAP champion, replied without any hint of hesitation when asked to choose between playing and coaching. “I had my second surgery two weeks ago and gusto ko pa. My body can still do it.”
And among the things she misses most about playing is the atmosphere — seeing the huge crowd — and being in the moment.
“I get hyped whenever I see the big crowd watching, when my coach calls me out, I push myself more. At the end of the day, it’s about playing the game you love.”