Challengers arrive
Japanese coach Koji Tsuzurabara is a man who knows how to instill the right mindset in whatever team he handles.
The challenger mindset that he has his Farm Fresh side play with brought down a big PVL All-Filipino Conference force on Tuesday, and the Foxies will be making their first semifinal appearance after a 25-17, 25-20, 25-19 sweep of the Nxled Chameleons in a knockout Play-In game at Filoil Centre in San Juan City.
“I tell the players always, change your mind, change your heart,” Tsuzurabara said. “A little bit, step by step, they have changed their mind. So, [it resulted] into this good game.
“We do our best because we are [the] challengers,” he said after they brought down the core of last year’s champion, Petro Gazz, which Tsuzurabara helped break through last year. “Other teams Creamline, PLDT, are always A-rank. Farm Fresh before B or C-rank team. We are challengers. That’s it.”
Trisha Tubu, who made a leap to the pros with Farm Fresh after just one UAAP playing year with Adamson, believes Tsuzurubara’s continuous reminder of the Foxies being the challengers unlocked their potential.
She does have one question, however. And this sounds scarier than what Tsuzurubara preaches.
“It’s true we’re considered challengers and it’s a challenge for us,” Tubu, after leading the Foxies with 12 points, said, before asking: “How long are we going to stay challengers?
“Each of us approaches every game knowing we have to work hard for every point,” she went on. “Like coach says, don’t think about winning—focus on how you win each point. And he always reminds us that our real opponent isn’t the team on the other side, but ourselves.
“If you beat yourself, you win the game.”
Playing for different coaches, from Jerry Yee, another Japanese in Shota Sato, Benson Bocboc, and Italian Alessandro Lodi tested the patience of Tubu and the young Foxies. But different cultures and systems brought them to where they are.
‘We have to rise’
“We’ve had several coaches and different systems, and I think that’s actually a good thing for us,” Tubu said. “Adjusting isn’t easy, but it’s also not that hard anymore because we’re used to it.
“We’ve been able to apply what we learned from those systems in our games. That’s why we believe we shouldn’t stay as challengers—we have to rise.”
Farm Fresh thus joins PLDT and Cignal in the semifinals, the cast of which will be completed after the Creamline-Akari game going on at press time. The final four round starts on Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.
“To be honest, it feels really amazing. This is something I used to just dream about, and I didn’t know when we would achieve it,” Tubu continued. “But through the process, with the help of management and everyone on the team, we really worked hard for this semifinals berth. It’s so fulfilling. I can’t even explain it.”
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