The Philippine Men’s Softball Team aka The Blu Boys spoke at the recent PSA forum and discussed how the squad’s promising future can turn into actual results.
The Philippine Men’s Softball Team was one of the special guests in the recently held Philippine Sportswriters Association forum at the Rizal Memorial Complex. From the onset, you could feel the excitement in the voices of Blu Boys pitching mentor Rey Pagkaliwagan and Coach Sid Abello and as they spoke on the microphone. They mainly discussed the squad’s bright future but as they went on, the more we learned about what needs to be done to lift our national softball team to the next level.
Promising future
Coach Rey can’t help but rave about his charges as he believed they overachieved at the 2022 Men’s Softball World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand. The Blu Boys placed 10th out of the 12 participants in the prestigious tournament, which according to the coaches, was a welcome surprise given the young players they chose to field in.
More important than the moral victory, the Blue Boys also jumped from no. 21 to no, 10 in the world rankings.
More exposure, please
The gap between Team Philippines and their conquerors is best summed up by the difference in speed when it comes to pitching. The opponents’ pitches fly as fast as 132 kph while the Blu Boys’ best throws peak at 121 kph. The coaches attribute this discrepancy to the Philippine contingent’s lack of exposure to world-class competition.
“Sila kasi, sila-sila ang palaging magkalaban kaya sanay na sila sa mabilis na bola. Tayo sa Rizal Memorial lang ang training,” said Pagkaliwagan,
Should this concern be addressed, both Coach Sid Abello and Coach Rey Pagkaliwagan are confident that the Blu Boys will be able to keep up with the best of the best.
Fast learners
At the group stage, the Blu Boys went 0-5 against the powerhouse teams of the USA, Argentina, Cuba, New Zealand and Czech Republic. But in the Placement round, Team Philippines went amok and swept Denmark, 8-0 and South Africa, 4-0. The Blu Boys’ transformation from Clark Kent to Superman, as stated by the two coaches, comes from the learnings the team had earlier in the tourney.
“Nasanay na siguro sa mabilis na bola sa Group A kaya tinamaan na natin ang pitches sa Placement Round,” said Abello
The progress they made in that amount of time only proves that the Blu Boys are capable of achieving so much more if backed up with proper reinforcement.
Argentine connection
The coaches aren’t the only guys impressed with the Blu Boys. Even Argentina, who had beaten Team Philippines and finished fourth at the World Cup, saw a great deal of potential in their opponents. So much so that the Argentines invited the boys to train with them back home, all expenses paid except the airfare.
“Pero nagulat talaga sila sa team natin. Airfare lang daw ang sasagutin natin kanila na lahat pati pagkain,” said Pagkaliwagan.
Most likely, it was the practice game wherein the two squads settled for a 0-0 stalemate that convinced the Argentine crew just how good the Filipinos were.
“Sa atin lang sila nahirapan. Ginamit naman nila top pitchers nila. Hindi sila makapaniwala,” he added.
A little help would go a long way
The Blu Boys have a bright future. But to see their tremendous potential turn into actual results, they must get the right support behind them. At the moment, Coach Rey and Coach Sid are banking on newly reinstated PSC Chairman Noli Eala to help them out. And on behalf of the Blu Boys, to Chairman Noli Eala we say this, “Comm. Noli, baka naman!”.