Bleachers' Brew #145 The Ballad of Johnny Candoy

The Ballad of Johnny Candoy
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6111:the-ballad-of-johnny-candoy&catid=31:sports&Itemid=65
by rick olivares

For 29 years Johnny Candoy has been head coach of National University’s volleyball teams. Unfortunately, NU has never been known to been known to win championships the way the University of Santo Tomas or even Far Eastern University would with startling regularity. There’s a certain stigma of being perennial cellar dwellers and their record of futility is perhaps akin to the Washington Generals, those longtime patsies to the Harlem Globetrotters.

Unknown to most, Candoy’s squads have placed third on several occasions in University Athletic Association of the Philippines play. In the pre-V-League days, he mentored a competitive Serg team in some now forgotten volleyball commercial league. But the winning has been few and far in between so you’ll have to forgive those not in the know.

At 9:00 a.m. of Sunday, February 15, 2009, Candoy coached his last game for NU.

In recent years, he’s been battling a heart ailment but the coach brooks no excuse. He simply feels it’s time to go. It would be easy to stay on for another year or so what with the massive support from new management. He could always defend his teams’ performances by pointing out the meager support he’s gotten all these years but if this were Family Feud, that wouldn’t even be in the Top Ten answers on the board.

He’s of retirement age and has guaranteed a pension several years ago so you know it isn’t about the money. “I don’t think you go into teaching or even coaching and you expect to make a lot of money (unless it’s in basketball),” he is quick to clarify. “You do it because you love the sport and you want to help mold the lives of people. It’s also finding your comfort zone and simply making do with what you have.”

And he learned about the simple life in the seaside municipality of Bolinao, Pangasinan where he grew up. It was largely a quiet place until a cadre of Overseas Foreign Workers brought home their precious dollars that helped fund a economic boom of sorts in addition to the fishing and agricultural industries that the area is known for.

In Bolinao, they didn’t have the recreational facilities available to Metro Manila kids even if this was clearly ages ago. But the children never let idle minds get the better of them.

Candoy got into track and field and volleyball but it was in the latter where he found a measure of success. Due to the unavailability of sporting equipment, a homemade ball was fashioned using rattan and bamboo strips wrapped in cloth. It hurt their hands, but they didn’t mind. They loved the sport as only kids can.

When Candoy went to Philippine Normal College and tried out for the volleyball team that set in motion a 44-year love affair with the sport where he has served as player, referee, and coach at one time or another.

Of those 44 years, he’s spent 29 of them at NU with over 600 games to his credit.

His men’s team, like the women’s squad the day before, fell to their respective foes. In the dugout prior to game time, the coach for the last time impressed upon his wards the value of communication and giving it their all. There were reminders about aggressiveness and making the most out of their last game of the season.

There was no mention of the match being his last after nearly three decades at the helm. There was no fanfare and certainly no emotional goodbyes. It was all about the team and what they needed to do in order to win.

The Friday night before, Coach Johnny was nursing a headache that throbbed even with the slightest movement. Still he wouldn’t miss this for anything. He’s too old school to let a minor annoyance like a headache prevent him from discharging his duties.

So what makes a coach come back year after year to a program that before the advent of SM Prime Holdings Inc. was never known as a winning one?

He will privately admit that the losses hurt and haunt him. They always do and aren’t easy to swallow. As he got older, he learned how to cope. “Tomorrow’s another day and another game,” he would time and again say with great hope.

His two daughters who went to UST can empathize; they root for their old man and do their best to cheer him up after a loss. The school’s poor performance in athletics has also had a detrimental effect on enrollment thus affecting funds that could have helped. More often than not, he relies on walk-ins like his freshman player Jenielyn Rallanka who came from Cebu and never even heard of NU prior to coming to Manila.

Rallanka is sensitive and has never played in such a big time volleyball atmosphere than the UAAP (the NU teams do not compete in the V-League). When she makes mistakes on court, she becomes tight and cries. Candoy realized a long time ago that his volleyball knowledge alone cannot help his players. That is why years ago, he asked a sibling who lives in the United States to send him books on coaching as well as basic sports psychology. He would read and surf the internet for even more information that could help his players. It isn’t easy but Candoy is too old school to not give up.

It would be easy to walk away for the coach but there’s more to life than a volleyball game. Throughout his career, he’s taught at one time or another Reading, Math, Science, and Physical Education (he also taught at Don Bosco Makati, Lourdes, and is currently a member of the faculty of Adamson University). He’s strict on his players’ grades and their studies.

He assigned the current captain of the women’s team, Jen Cardoniga to check her teammates’ attendance in class. If there are unexplained cuts they run suicide drills until they drop. If their grades are bad, they’re cut from the squad. In fact, his team has the fewest number of players with nine.

He constantly counsels his players on life and finishing their studies. The coach says his grand reward is when his former athletes touch base and inform him of how they’re doing. Just the other week, a former player dropped by and gave his coach a heartfelt thank you. You see he now works for a multinational and has been able to provide for his family. He even travels to places he only once read about. Back when he wanted to quit, his coach never gave up on him and pushed him to do well in his academics. And was he ever glad he listened.

It wasn’t only in schooling where Coach Johnny made an impact on the lives of his players.

Prior to the arrival of the Sys, athletes have their meals delivered in styrofoam packs. It wasn’t always enough but for these student-athletes there wasn’t money to spread around so the coach more often than not paid for the extra meals.

“He’s like a second father to me and to all of us,” described Cardoniga. “Minsan corny pag mag-advice pero pagkatapos ng lahat, makikita mo na tama siya.”

To answer why he stuck around as coach all these years, it’s very simple -- he did it for his players and his children. You see the coach’s wife passed away some time ago and he became the sole bread winner. His personal goal was no longer quantified in wins (although it would have been nice had he been blessed with a few more) but in ensuring that his kids were able to finish school and get good jobs.

After his last practice with his men’s and women’s teams, we had lunch at a nearby eatery and chatted about his long odyssey. “Sports is like life,” he quoted that age-old adage. “You try to beat the odds – kahit ganong kahirap – to win. In our case here sa NU, I like to say that ‘defeat is victory postponed.’ Pero na-postpone na na-postpone…”

We laughed hard and for more than a minute at that. Soon after that, we concluded our meeting. I headed towards the LRT Station along Legarda while Coach Johnny Candoy went back to school. He had a 1:00 pm class to teach.



Author's Note: I became with Coach Johnny a couple of years ago when we struck up a conversation prior to a match a Blue Eagle Gym. Since then I've tried to help him by providing another voice for his teams in NU. Obviously, their team needs a lot of help. These guys just keep it real.