In THE book “Outliers”, Malcolm Gladwell acquaints us with the 10,000-hour rule. In a nutshell, the rule proposes that the mastery of any skill, talent notwithstanding, is within reach, after it has been practiced for 10,000 hours. It is easy to forget that success is not wrought overnight—the hours spent in practice are far from a walk in the park; on the contrary, these are always exhausting and consistently trying. Blood, sweat, and, once in a while, even tears are shed in the process. Take a look at what transpires during training and it becomes clear that our athletes are, in essence, self-made men and women in their fields. Just because they’ve already won doesn’t mean they’re ready to give up their crowns just yet.

5:30 AM Though warm-up commences thirty minutes later, the Lady Booters are the first of the Ateneo athletes to head to the fields with their early call time.

6:00 AM The Blue Booters limber up for practice with a ball drill called ‘midfield play.’ To address the specific roles of the players, the offensive and defensive halves of the team split up—shooting drills for the offense and defensive tactics for defenders. This is to ensure that the team’s strikers and midfielders are in prime condition to create opportunities for goals during matches, while the defenders effectively prevent the opposition from scoring.

On Wednesdays, the Booters proceed to the gym for weight training. On Fridays, they put their teamwork to the test and see how well they work as a unit in regular scrimmages against the Loyola Football Club.

On the other side of the field, the Blue and Lady Batters get ready with their cleats, running around the bases. They incorporate a high-intensity technique called Plyometrics,a type of exercise particularly designed to increase an athlete’s speed and build power, into their program.

On Tuesday and Thursdays, other teams with early starts are the Blue and Lady Tankers and the Rowing Teams. While the Tankers trod towards the ice cold Loyala School pool, the rowers make their way to the La Mesa Dam, pacing themselves for a three-hour row.

Wednesday and Fridays are reserved for land training. It’s not just the action packed sports that does condition training—the rowing team has jogging and weight training sessions from 6:00-9:00 am.

7:00 AM After the Lady Booters are done working on their endurance, they go through tactical drills similar to their male counterparts, including one-on-one plays. Once a week, usually on a Wednesday, practice consists of pure endurance training, where the Booters are subjected to two hours of sprinting the fields. “It’s the, ‘suicide practice,’” Booter Anton Amistoso says.

Meanwhile, over on the diamond, batters from the men’s and women’s teams are assigned to a batting station which rotates every ten minutes. In this rotation, coaches pitch while the players practice hitting, tossing, and rubber strengthening.

8:00 AM The second hour of the Lady Batters’ training begins with fielding, where they occupy their usual positions on the grounds. Infielders and outfielders handle separate sets of balls while pitchers are subjected to a different drill.

9:00 AM Infielders and outfielders of the Blue and Lady Batters come together on the field and take turns batting with pitchers. Because their season starts in November, the Batters have increased their sessions from three to six days every week.

2:30 PM Before making their way to the Moro courts, the Men’s Volleyball team begins their training session with a prayer. They proceed with warm-ups consisting of stretches, jogging and court exercises. Ball handling drills are done in two’s followed by other ball drills: ground defense, service reception, and offense-to-defense transitions.

3:00 PM The Ateneo Throwers start practicing their throws. Javelin, shot-put and discus are three of four throwing events in track and field (hammer being the fourth). Whether they aim to hurl long, spiked poles or disc-shaped objects as far as humanly possible, great speed and considerable arm strength are required of the throwers.

On Wednesdays and Fridays, the Blue and Lady Tankers get a break from their early start, and begin their three hour practice.

4:30 PM In any game of athletics, conditioning is pivotal in winning. The Blue Eagles go to the weights room for lifting and conditioning—this enables them to run the floor and improve transition on the court, resulting in better-executed fast break plays.

Meanwhile, the Track and Field Teams are divided into their respective events—sprinters and jumpers normally train together, while throwers and distance runners have separate training schedules.

The Ateneo Throwers also start weight training, consisting of squats, jammer, cleans, deadlifts, and narrow grip snatch—repetitions of 4 x 6. (Note: Jammers are often included in the Olympic weight-lifting competitions)

5:30 PM The Throwers perform four to six repetitions of 100-200m sprints at the beginning of the season; towards the end of the semester, they shift to 30m and 100m sprints.

Depending on the day of the week, distance runners’ programs either focus on speed and endurance or are aerobic-intensive. Aerobic-intensive days include ‘fartlek’—a Swedish term for “speed play,” where the duration that an athlete runs is divided into intervals. These segments are run at increasing or decreasing speeds.

6:00 PM The Blue Eagles formally begin training with agility, strength, and sprint drills. The players then practice individual skills—dribbling, shooting from the charity stripe, boxing out—before focusing on team efforts—assisting and passing.

Offensive drills cater to each player’s role on the team, drills are designed especially for point guards, forwards and centers. The Blue Eagles are notorious for anchoring their offense on their defensive prowess, and during practice they work on mastering the man-to-man defense feared by their rivals in the UAAP.

8:00 PM The Blue Eagles conclude practice. During their UAAP season, training is six times a week and is usually extended until 9:00 PM for extra individual shooting and skills training. During the post-season, training is limited to four times a week.