No wonder you're always tapping away on your O2 XDAII! What about your regimen?
Prior to competitions, we stay at the gym for three and a half months like we did for the SEA Games.
You lived in the gym?
Yah! We need to have focus, and so that the coach can know if it's time to relax, to eat, to train more?
So that means you had to leave all your commitments behind for a while??
Yes, there are a lot of sacrifices involved. But prior to these months, we also need to train everyday. Even if we don't have competitions, we have to train all the time and be at peak performance. So, every morning, it's wake up, have breakfast, take a bath, train, eat lunch, take a bath, train, sleep, train again?!
Is your coach like in those movies? Like Pai Mei from Kill Bill? Or Chow Yun Fat?
The Philippine team's coaches are from China.
So? they're? like? monks? Ahh, shaolin?
They're not really monks, they're just the same as us! But when we say that they came from China, that's basically their specialty, right? So, coach lang talaga ng wushu. They don't do anything else. Some of them train and compete from a very young age then become a coach when they retire. They are so good. Very, very good.
Ever killed any Bills in the real world? Thrown anyone a flying dag??
Not actually because you should control your temper, right? If something were to go wrong, well, I'm a UST varsity player, so I'll just run!
With all that you're doing, aren't you afraid you'll burn out soon?
Actually, I've already planned my future. Right now, I'm 23 so I plan to continue until I'm 30. When I reach that age, I plan to retire in everything that I do. In business, money will work for me and not the other way around. With my sport, I'll continue but not as an athlete. I'll continue to support the sport, send a lot of people to go to school (not just in sport), especially the orphans, and then build a foundation for poor people. Basically, my plan after the age of thirty is mostly charity work.
So you basically train and compete and work all year round. We're exhausted just thinking about it!
It's okay because it's part of it. It's my passion. If you don't have passion in what you're doing you won't do well at all. Whatever your goal is, you have to keep an eye on it.
So? what's your favorite color again?
