Standing Tall
No challenge is a tall order for AJ Pareja. It’s an opportunity to achieve something.
by rick olivares
Many were flabbergasted that he chose to go to Loyola Heights as opposed to the others what with their more established programs and success.
Success is relative. Ask him. It’s what you do, what you’ve accomplished, and where you go from here. “It’s about challenges and doing things that people say that cannot be done,” he noted.
As a youngster, sports was the farthest from his mind. What occupied him in his spare time were computer games. He wasn’t yet at his current height of 6’4” but even then he was taller than his schoolmates. He was a maddening anomaly for his coaches who believed that his height was a weapon to be used. They stuck him in the net as goalkeeper while the gangly boy tried to block and parry shots using his hands and feet. In one moment in a precursor of things to come, he digged at a well placed shot at him as one would do in volleyball.
Yet sports wasn’t his interest. That was the realm of older brother Paolo who tried out every sport he could as long as there was a chance of doing it – karate, swimming, basketball, running. “You name it, I got into it,” smiled the kuya at the memory.
AJ was the sickly sort so he stayed home a lot with his computer games. But eventually, he did pick up on of those quick remedy books for home medicine. And not soon after that, he decided that he wanted to become a doctor so he wouldn’t be sickly anymore and to spare his parents’ from their medical bills. “And I want to help others too,” he chimed in.
Paolo too realized what his coaches did – that his younger brother could be good at sports if he wanted to be.
Eventually, Cocoy Bodegon, his high school volleyball coach spotted him on the football field awkwardly turning back shot after shot. That was his “eureka” moment because he pirated Pareja from the football team to the volleyball squad. And they did win a championship before he graduated. Some of his opponents back then eventually became his teammates in college – Ateneo High School’s Macky Limgenco and Mike de Joya.
Paolo was then playing for Ateneo but didn’t push his brother to follow him to Loyola Heights. But he did leave him one food for thought – “If you join the other teams, you’ll be just be one part of a team that wins all the time. In Ateneo, you have a chance to shine and help a team become better.”
At that point, AJ enjoyed challenges. And this was another one. He also thought better of what other recruiters told him – “Why go to Ateneo when they have a lousy program?” Or “if you want to do some modeling, my team has a lot of them. In Ateneo, they have none.”
Around that time in 2006, the groundwork for the Ateneo medical school was in its infancy. AJ had already decided to become a doctor when he finished his schooling and for his post-college studies, it was either UST or Ateneo.
In the meantime, the men’s volleyball team continued its season of futility as in AJ’s rookie year, they compiled their ninth consecutive 0-14 record. But the year after, they began to win a few games here and there. During Season 71, under coach Oliver Almadro, AJ was made team captain. Together, they conspired to break and push the team out of its doldrums and in an incredible turn-around, they were beating teams that were not only considered bottom feeders but also the top squads. And they made the Final Four for the first time as the fourth seed. Although they lost to UST in a three-set sweep, Ateneo volleyball had come alive.
This past season, AJ’s fifth and last, it wasn’t as easy, as he was now in the Ateneo medical school. As a result, he could only train with his teammates once or twice a week his studies permitting.
After a dubious start where the Blue Spikers were losing in five-setters, the team began a remarkable turnaround. They once more made the Final Four but with their best ever finish – Third Place and good enough to add points to Ateneo’s total in the General Championship standings and a trophy to cement the achievement.
It was Ateneo’s best ever finish in 29 years. In 1981, they placed second to UP.
For AJ, the Third Place finish was memorable and one for the books, but what made it sweeter was that he came away with two awards – Best Spiker and much to his surprise, the season MVP Award (that he credits to Almadro who he says really pushed him to get better at the game).
For his parents, Alex and Lynn, who have never missed a game since high school, as great as the awards were, what really tugged at their heart was seeing how their son was mobbed by fans – Atenean and from other schools – after the awarding ceremony. “That’s how you know the fans respect you and that the award was deserving.” beamed the proud father.
The Men’s Volleyball Team fell to FEU in four sets in the Final Four. Inside the locker room afterwards, AJ seized the moment, and instead of a sad atmosphere, he picked it up a notch when he gave a heartfelt goodbye with a smile on his face. “Sana ipagpatuloy niyo yung sinimulan ng mga nauna sa atin at yung na-achieve natin this year.”
A teammate, JP Pareja (no relation) quipped during the season-ending team prayer, “Lord, sana maka-graduate na si AJ para matulungan niya na yung team.”
Everyone inside cracked up. AJ smiled. It’s only his first year in med school but you know how he likes challenges.
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