Soccer Photograph and Memories

Amirasolo and Other Essays

Part 1. Tondo on my Mind

Essay 11. SOCCER PHOTOGRAPH AND MEMORIES

I now remember who took and gave me the picture above of our winning soccer team. Our  goalkeeper Patricio Manalo. That explains why he isn't in the photo.

Pat was our full-time goalkeeper. He had two  alternates, Pol Bruselas and Benjie Deang. All of them were efficient goalkeepers who've frustrated many times the attempts by strikers of the opposing teams to score a goal.

Our forwards or strikers, prolific scorers all,, were Art Marquez, Edward Tan, and our sometimes goalkeeper Pol Bruselas. Len Manansala, our toughest defender, was fullback. The rest--myself, Jet Bautista, Mandy Constantino, Roger Manuel, the late Rommel Belmonte, and our other alternate goalie Benjie Deang--were the halfbacks.

Len 'invented' his own original defensive move to force an opponent to lose the ball he was dribbling. What he often did was slide down fast to the ground with both legs extended, using both of his feet to kick the ball away from the player dribbling it. That maneuver was effective most of the time, and spared the increasingly tense goalkeeper from the nasty situation of facing the opposing team's striker one on one.

Our team, Section 321, was the soccer intramural champion in 1972. The games weren't the regulatory soccer games where eleven players from each opposing teams faced each other on the field. In our version of soccer only seven players per team were fielded at the same time during each game.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to hold on to the championship the next year which was won by Section 424. I don't remember the final score, but I'm sure that it was more than one. One thing I realized during that game was that the referee, Mr. Cordero, wanted us to win, because he kept on urging us halfbacks to leave our defensive line and go to the offense.

I played barefooted during games. That's because I ran swifter without shoes. Seeing me playing sans shoes must have moved our goalkeeper Pat Manalo to pity. He might have thought that I don't have a proper pair of athletic rubber shoes to use because he appeared one day on the soccer field with a pair of soccer shoes in hand which he said he was lending me. I of course accepted his offer quickly.

I was able to use the shoes in several games and then promptly lost it. I've left them inadvertently in the shower room where we players troop to after every game because we never stay neat after all the sliding and rolling we did on the grassy and sometimes muddy field. The guy who have picked them up was very lucky because the shoes were original Adidas soccer shoes, with studs and all.

When I confessed the lost to Pat, he just nodded and showed no signs of disappointment or dismay whatsoever. Pat acted there like a true friend---a real cool friend who won't permit a 'little' carelessness like that on my part to upset him. I used to wonder what happened to Pat after high school, but just recently, another high school classmate, Judge Joe Lim of Washington DC, told us that Pat works as an accountant in the US, and has a Caucasian wife.

Come to think of it, my soccer teammates, have all become successful professionals. Pol Bruselas became an appellate court judge. Two teammates, Jet Bautista and Edward Tan were first placers in the Mechanical and Civil Engineering exams respectively. Len Manansala founded his own advertising company in Pennsylvania, I think. Art Marquez was a chemical engineer who built his fortune working for Shell in the Middle East. Roger Manuel, an economist, worked for many years in Malacañang, at the Department of Budget Management, from the time of President Marcos up to the time of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Benjie Deang was with PLDT. I don't know what is his designation there, but I'm sure that he must have  occupied a high managerial position.

I never knew what had become of Mandy Constantino and the late Rommel Belmonte after we left high school, but I presume that they must have achieved a lot too in their chosen careers, because after all, we all belong to section one, a class whose members were all supposed to excel in academics.

Before I wrap up, let me ask you this: Do I and our PE instructor and soccer referee, Mr. Cordero, have any physical resemblance to each other?

I asked because a much younger fellow artist, Rigor Esguerra of Baler, who I've met once in an artists' gathering, asked me after seeing our soccer team photo if I am the man in yellow.

I was taken aback by his question because the man in yellow is Mr. Cordero who must be in his forties at the time this picture was taken.
I was baffled and didn't know if should feel insulted or not. But being the polite person that I truly am, I chose to believe that he just made an honest mistake and didn't really mean to offend. I therefore answered him good-naturedly.

Here's the thread of our conversation that happened around two years ago:

Rigor: Kayo po ba yung naka dilaw?

Me: Naku ha! Hahaha.... 1972 pa yang pic, pre. Ako yung nasa dulong kaliwa, second row.
PE instructor namin yung naka-yellow. Si Mr. Cordero. Hindi pa ko ganyan katanda noong 1972, hahaha....

Rigor: Akaw ka pogie talaga ni idol nga bataan bagay kahit naman ngayon idol parin

Me: Hahaha.... Salamat, pre.

Rigor: Alam ko naman ikaw ang kilabot pag dating sa chick iba karisma pre

Me: Ah, yan ang hindi totoo. Tanders na. 62 na ko.

So, there. It's good that you reversed gear, Rigor. I would have deleted you from my list of Facebook friends list if you didn't.