In just his third game as University of the East’s interim head coach, Rod Roque has already matched the win total of his predecessor Francis Vicente.
It took Vicente 47 games to get to two wins but Roque, who is also UE’s athletic director, has steered the Lady Warriors on a journey that uses happiness and camaraderie as its fuel.
The visibly jolly Lady Warriors defeated University of Santo Tomas, 25-23, 18-25, 28-26, 26-24, in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Centre.
READ: UAAP Volleyball: UE pulls off another stunner, keeps UST skidding
Roque said that he fully embraced the Lady Warriors’ flaws when he took over the team back in late February and instilled a positive mindset on a squad that lost five straight games before he sat at the bench.
“I noticed that they were scared of committing mistakes, and if you’re scared of committing those mistakes you’ll end up playing worse,” said Roque in Filipino.
“Nobody’s perfect, and it’s normal to commit mistakes. What’s important is to get back up when you did something wrong and I saw that they’re doing that. That’s why I’m very happy, I love these ladies.”
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Roque’s first order of business with the Lady Warriors was have them watch game tapes, something Vicente didn’t do.
This off court study sessions gave another avenue for the Lady Warriors to build the camaraderie they needed to win their first string of two games since 2012.
Mary Ann Mendrez, who had 21 points against the Golden Tigresses, said Roque just let them have fun on the court.
READ: Roque says Vicente left UE for ‘personal reasons’
“Coach Roque just told us that we should always have fun, we shouldn’t let go of the enjoyment when we play,” said Mendrez in Filipino. “Because when you’re not having fun, you’ll just end up working miserably.”
For libero Kath Arado, her dreams of changing the public’s perception of UE is slowly coming into fruition.
“It started in the first game, I really wanted to change the peoples’ perception of UE,” said Arado in Filipino. “I’m really speechless right now, and with the help of the coaches and my teammates, we’re slowly changing our image.”