FILE–La Salle coach Topex Robinson in the Filoil preseason Cup. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—La Salle coach Topex Robinson knows how much pressure there is on the Green Archers’ side after UAAP Season 86.
And he’s willing to embrace all that with hopes of seeing his wards do the exactly same.
After escaping Adamson in the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup, 80-72, at San Juan Arena on Wednesday, Robinson said he’s conditioning his Green Archers to ride with the growing pressure of being the league’s defending champions.
READ: Now the hunted, La Salle Green Archers being readied for fight like no other
“The next question is; how committed are you to feeling the pressure that everybody will always play their best every time they’re playing? Like I told them, whether you’re in the bottom or at the top, there will always be pressure,” said the top coach.
“We always make sure that this position right now is something we should hold on to dear life with. We’ll keep reaching as high as we can and we always try to challenge ourselves because there’s always going to be UP, Ateneo, UST, so on and so forth but we tell ourselves, we’ll keep challenging ourselves.”
One of the beneficiaries of La Salle embracing the pressure is Jonnel Policarpio.
Policarpio has shown great leaps in development during the offseason, which means he could possibly be given more duties as a team leader despite just being in his second year with the squad.
READ: Kevin Quiambao stays with La Salle for another UAAP Season
Fortunately for Robinson, Policarpio isn’t frowning on the idea.
“For me, I’m just doing my work. All of us help each other out so we can all rise up at the same time,” said the forward in Filipino after dropping 22 points on the Soaring Falcons.
It hasn’t been an easy cruise for the Green Archers in the preseason, though.
With the pressure of replicating their Season 86 Finals mastery, La Salle fell to rival University of the Philippines, 89-77.
But if you ask Robinson about it, he saw positives in the defeat despite their surprising beatdown at the hands of the Fighting Maroons.
“You lose, you learn. You win, you learn. That’s always going to be our team. We respect that UP gave us a good fight and we had a lot of learning opportunities because of that.”
“They’re not our competitors, we don’t look at them as our enemies, we look at them as somebody who can make us better.”