Bleachers' Brew #136 Game, Set & Life with Roger Gorayeb

This appears in the Monday December 8, 2008 edition of Business Mirror.

http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2972:bleachers-brew-game-set-and-life&catid=31:sports&Itemid=65

Game, Set & Life
by rick olivares

There’s a small room in the gym of San Sebastian College Recoletos that should be preserved forever.

It contains no trophies, no plaques, and no streamers that proclaim the Lady Stags as the ultimate volleyball champion.

The room is equal parts a lounge and a dressing room yet it isn’t a refuge or a sanctuary either.

The room is nameless and San Sebastian’s fabled volleyball coach Roger Gorayeb struggles to describe it, “Hindi ko alam kung paano siya tawagin pero maraming maksaysayang pangyayari ang naganap diyan.”

Here the players cry and curse their coach for his killer practices. Here they are forced to deal with the consequences of their misdeeds such as breaking team rules like lateness, drinking, smoking, and not hitting their study books as hard as they hit the court during games.

If anyone crosses him badly on any of those counts then they run laps or practice until their bodies say, “No mas.”

If it’s serious enough an infraction then it’s time for them to either go back home or transfer to another school.

Yet it is here where he also consoles his players who get physically beaten by their boyfriends and those who have to deal with teenage pregnancies. Here he lends his players money for their school supplies or allowances even if he knows he’ll most likely never get his money back.

He isn’t paid well by any standard nevertheless he forks out more than he earns despite having made San Sebastian synonymous with volleyball excellence. Gorayeb plays godfather to an uncountable number of his former players. His home is their home, their venue for birthdays, wedding receptions, and simple get-togethers. He chooses not to count favors and figures that his good karma will balance things out for him and they do.

“It’s all about values,” the coach points out passionately. “As long as you do what is required then all the hard work and sacrifices will pay off. Nasa business ako of producing graduates who are supposed to be good and educated people first and good volleyball players second. If it’s the other way around then our trophies do not mean anything at all.”

There’s another room --- the classroom kind. This is where he learned that education is not only a great equalizer but also a test of a person’s character and person determination to rise above life’s general suckiness.

He took up two courses: Aircraft Maintenance at FEATI (Far Eastern Air Transport Incorporated) University and Accounting in San Sebastian. Between the two schools, he worked at Philippine Airlines’ fleet of jumbo jets before he had enough to continue his education.

After Roger’s Lebanese father passed away when he was 10 years old, his mother worked herself ragged for her boy’s schooling and to put food on the table. He remembers his mother’s exhausted features so well like it was yesterday that it’s grafted onto his mind’s eye. And when he talks of his beloved father, the crusty and tough exterior that he’s known for cracks as he shows a little emotion.

So the classroom was the first arena where he had to excel on a daily basis.

Even then he knew that for all his success at volleyball there wasn’t much of a future for anyone. And almost 25 years later, even with the modest success of the V-League, it still holds true. In truth, he’d rather that he be noted for his players’ graduation rates.

For Gorayeb, volleyball teaches discipline and teamwork. The adversity on the court they face teaches character and determination that should be applied to life. Not the other way around.

When you look at the multi-titled volleyball coach, you’d mistake him for a retired military man what with his crew cut and boxer’s physique despite the few pounds he’s put on. If he were a man of today, he’d be into mixed martial arts or even basketball.

Actually, hoops was his first sport. He rooted for the fabled Toyota team of Sonny Jaworski and Mon Fernandez and played the game at every opportunity while at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Grade School in Quezon City. Except that he saw more time on the bench since he wasn’t a particularly tall kid.

He then moved to football and table tennis which he enjoyed but didn’t particularly excel at.

It was while playing volleyball as a setter where he received his first-ever praise. Finally, he said to himself – something I’m good at.

The good cheer at sports was a welcome respite for Gorayeb as he found his solace on the volleyball court. In his senior year, he was asked to take over as playing coach.

The accounting major was chosen as for his leadership and no nonsense attitude despite the presence of other seniors on the squad. He didn’t drink nor did he smoke. And his grades were impressive. There were tense moments he admits, but he stayed the course. The team went on an impressive win streak and the malcontents towed the line.

No chore was small enough for the budding coach. If the floor needed mopping, he did not hesitate to do so. He gathered the balls and picked up after his mess. “You lead by example,” he says affixing his stamp on the time-honored adage about leadership.

If anyone has cared enough to notice, he has no assistant coach. He raises his eyebrows when people quiz him about it. “Why not?” he asks in return. “As it is, I don’t even have enough to do.”

Wish granted. In addition to his Lady Stags, he now mentors the Ateneo Lady Spikers where he has been greeted like a wartime liberator.

He gets upset when his players wait for the student managers to pick up their gear. “All this money has made people soft,” he grumbles. “They can do what they want in their homes but in practice and the games, they do what I think they should do. in San Sebastian we have to make sure the athletes attend to their studies. Here in Ateneo, we have to teach them how to be good volleyball players.”

It’s an early Friday evening and it’s the second to the last practice before the UAAP Season 71 Women’s Volleyball tournament begins.

Practice for the Ateneo Lady Spikers isn’t as intense or frenetic as the earlier days of the week. Although it’s a moment of downtime, scrimmaging, and having fun, that doesn’t mean that they go after the ball lackadaisically.

After all, Roger Gorayeb would have none of it. You would think that after coaching volleyball in every level for the last 24 years he’d be less crusty.

It’s a little past 7pm when Patty Taganas arrives. She bows before the new coach and then gives him a hug that lasts a few seconds. Ten minutes later, Charo Soriano arrives and does the same. She’s apologetic for her tardiness as she just got out of work.

The ironic thing there is both Taganas and Soriano already graduated from school and from UAAP competition. And never even played for Gorayeb.

Such is the level of respect that the players have for arguably the winningest collegiate volleyball coach in the land.

If you ask him how many titles, he’s won, he’s not sure and he rattles them off with his fingers. For the record, its 8 titles with the men’s, 20 with the women’s, and 18 in the junior’s level. And those are just the indoor volleyball crowns. There’s beach volleyball too. And the newly minted V-League championship that was the lone competition missing in his impressive trophy haul.

It’s not even misplaced bravado because for him, you’re only as good as your last accomplishment. He’d like to keep on winning but the more important competition he continuously competes in is the game of life.