Earl Abadam was sidelined for almost the entirety of UAAP Season 87 after injuring his ankle early in the tournament. He returns for Season 88 with more responsibility as co-captain for La Salle.
La Salle senior Earl Abadam is buzzing to make up for lost time with his return for the Green Archers.
After his UAAP campaign last year was cut short due to injury, a fit-again Abadam comes back with more responsibility, serving as co-captain with Mike Phillips in Season 88.
Confined to the sidelines as La Salle ended up falling short of defending their championship against UP in the Season 87 Finals, Abadam had a lot of time to reflect.
But rather than return with revenge or redemption in mind, the 21-year-old settled for a more positive emotion.
Earl Abadam is back in form after spending months sidelined due to an ankle injury. | Photo: RM Chua / One Sports
“I’m grateful to God that I’m able to be on the court back again with my brothers for this past year,” Abadam told One Sports.
“It’s a relieving feeling because I know that I wanted to give so much more last season but I know that God had a path for me to be able to bounce back and learn from what happened.”
It was only in mid-October that Abadam suffered a season-ending ankle injury that left him in crutches for the rest of La Salle’s campaign.
More than altering his perspective of the game because of the time away, Abadam said that the whole ordeal also changed him outside of the basketball — in an overall positive way.
“It not only affected on the basketball side but also in life. It helped me grow into a better person, a better man,” he said.
Refuge from tough times
Regardless of how it all went down for Abadam, injury recovery is a challenging experience for any athlete to go through.
But with his family and teammates, Abadam said that he was able to lean on their support to get through tough times with their presence providing a steady hand to hold on to.
“The people that helped me was definitely my family. They were able to come back here to the Philippines from Australia. They were able to visit me. But also, of course, my teammates. Those were the people that I was around with every day,” Abadam said.
“When I look back on it, they were always supporting me, coming to my room. Even though I was bedridden for a week or two because I couldn’t walk. But they were always saying prayers for me and during that time, I was also saying a lot of prayers for them,” he continued.
Not rushing in
Though some may be outright sweating in wanting to get back on their feet, Abadam said that he isn’t in any rush to do too much too quickly.
Rather, Abadam simply wants to play his role and lead the Green Archers in his return, along with Phillips.
The DLSU Green Archers will lean on the leadership of Earl Abadam and Mike Phillips. | Photo: RM Chua / One Sports
“What I want to be able to do this season is give my all to the role I’ve been given, as a co-captain with Mike, I just want to be able to lead by example each and every day, be it on the court or off the court,” he said.
Abadam and the rest of La Salle start their campaign in UAAP Season 88 against the Adamson Soaring Falcons in the main game on Saturday, September 20, at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion at 4:30 p.m.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.