If there’s one sports team that best exemplifies De La Salle Zobel’s holistic approach to education, it may very well be green and white karate.
“Karamihan ng sumasali sa akin, super talino. As in, mga Top 10, Top 20,” shared coach Chino Veguillas, through chuckles, in the latest episode of the University Avenue webcast hosted by Migs Bustos. “Pag tinatanong nga ako ng SDO (Sports Development Office) kung may problema ba ako sa grades, sabi ko, ‘Wala. ‘Di uso sa amin yan.'”
In that sense, Zobel karate is far from the usual sports team that has athletes excelling in sports who, more often than not, have to work double-time in class.
Rather, what Zobel karate has are standout students who seek to be admirable athletes as well.
“I try to teach them how to excel in sports. They’re excellent in school so I try to round out yung holistic education nila,” detailed Veguillas. “As Zobel graduates, we pride ourselves in our holistic development so yun din yung pinipilit kong gawin for my athletes.”
Make no mistake, however, the karate program inside the gates along University Avenue is a force to reckon with in the sport.
“Zobel karate started in mid-80s and it was always tradition in Zobel to have a really, really good karate team,” shared the mentor who also represented the school in the sport as a student-athlete. “We were never the famous sport inside Zobel, but as much as possible, we try to excel.”
One such proud product of those tenets is Sakura Alforte, one of the world’s top kata players in the junior female category.
“As students of La Salle, we were drilled in Lasallian core values so I thought, why not live up to that?” she remarked. “Commitment to excellent is the most important core value to me. Why I do my best in academics, I also do my best in karate.”
That commitment to excellence is still what the Filipino-Japanese karateka makes sure to do as a student-athlete in Tokyo’s Waseda University – and also into her foreseeable future.
“All of this, will still help me to whatever future I have,” she expressed.
Alforte was just the second Filipino to win a medal in the World Karate Championships when she bagged bronze in the 2019 edition of the meet. When she did so, her sensei was not the least bit surprised.
“Her natural ability was always there e. Kumbaga, there were good raw materials already,” described Veguillas. “Being her coach is being a sculptor, meaning you find the best part and mold that to the best she can be.”
That, he did and that, he will continue to do so. Zobel Karate may be far from the usual, but it’s just like any and every Jr. Archer team in the fact that being the best version of one’s self is the ultimate goal.
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The pasture isn’t always greener on the other side. In fact, it’s the greenest along University Avenue. Continue catching all our episodes on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/delasalle.zobel) and also follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dls_zobel).
