De La Salle Zobel, without a doubt, is a powerhouse program in sports – whether it be UAAP or even the national level.
Almost four decades before, however, there wasn’t even a program inside Ayala Alabang to begin with.
“When I went there in 1981, ang mga coaches, parents lang. I was the first official coach there,” narrated Hans-Peter Smit in the newest episode of the University Avenue webcast hosted by Migs Bustos.
“I started the varsity program of Zobel. I don’t think many people know that. I was, I think, the youngest athletics director in the country then,” he continued.
Yes, all of those championships the football, swimming, basketball, volleyball, baseball, and all other varsity teams had brought home inside the gates along University Ave. have the 62-year-old naturalized Filipino to thank.
Smit, for his part, has his mother to thank for letting him try his luck in a school he didn’t even know existed.
“My friend told me to apply sa Zobel. I was like, ‘Zobel? What’s that?’ But one morning, I was awake early, ewan ko kung bakit kasi usually, gabi ako gising na gising, but maybe it was meant to be,” he shared. “So I told my mom, ‘Mom, can I use the car?’ And she shouted, kasi pasaway ako e, ‘What?! For what?!'”
“‘I’m gonna apply for a job.’ She said, ‘Okay, go. Use the driver,'” he added.
That day, lady luck was seemingly smiling on Zobel as it welcomed the very man who would establish and then reinforce it as a powerhouse program, especially in football.
“This is a legacy I can leave behind. Before, nobody ever heard of La Salle Zobel,” he remarked. “When you talked about football, it was Green Hills. Zobel was an outsider.”
Most definitely, Zobel is an outsider no more, having produced countless sports stars through the years. One, in particular, is a national team mainstay also making waves abroad – and he points to Smit’s coaching as the start of it all.
“Coach Hans was a great influence especially during the start of my career,” detailed Patrick Deyto, member of the Philippine Azkals and current keeper for Suphanburi F.C. in Thai football’s top tier. “I learned from him the proper discipline an athlete should have in order to be successful. His belief and confidence in me enabled me to reach my full potential.”
It was never all about wins and championships for Smit. From Day 1, what mattered for him is the student-athlete’s character.
“What’s the first letter of the alphabet? ‘A.’ Attitude,” he explained. “If you have the right attitude, everything else will follow. How can you even go to ‘B’ if ‘A’ pa lang, bagsak ka na?”
Indeed, this character formation has stuck with each and every player the legendary coach had mentored.
That perhaps is no more evident than in Alvin Ocampo, a Zobel alumnus, now following in Smit’s footsteps as head coach of the De La Salle University Green and Lady Booters.
“Yung discipline ni coach Hans, way above everyone else. The way he sees players is anak niya sila,” he shared. “Alam niya kung kulang pa yung bininigay mo. Ipu-push ka talaga niya to perform at the highest level.”
And because of that, Ocampo guaranteed that he would be a La Salle lifer.
“Nakuha ko kay coach Hans, yung passion for coaching, passion for La Salle,” expressed the Zobel star-turned-Taft MVP-turned-national team player-turned-Green and Lady Booters coach. “We bleed green. I don’t see myself coaching any other school.”
Apparently, the DLSU Hall of Famer has no reason at all to take off the green and white as he is Smit’s heir apparent.
“When I retire, Alvin is the only one who will take over. I already told heads in Zobel and DLSU,” claimed the fabled football shot-caller.
Of course, that is a tall task: succeeding the very man who has been synonymous with La Salle football for almost 40 years. The good news, though, is Ocampo knows full well the obstacle that lies in front of him and he has been prepared to the utmost by his mentor of nearly 25 years.
“Zobel is a breeding ground for great players kasi nandun yung pride natin sa program natin. Pag La Salle-Ateneo, siyempre, laban yan,” he stated. “Pero Actually, pag laban ng Zobel at GH, mas grabe pa. Yung pride sa program na yun yung kailangan nating ituloy.”
Nobody could say, not even he himself, when Smit would finally hang up his whistle.
What we could all say, however, is when that time comes, he deserves a sports facility to be named after him. After all, he founded Zobel’s varsity program.
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