Photo by Joseph S. Angan

Golden Boy: Matt Laurel

by Margarita A. Contreras

Tell me something special about you, I ask. “I’d like to think that I’m a creative person—but I don’t have a lot of outputs. I’m filled with ideas. I talk a lot. I don’t like math.”

“[And], I won a gold medal before the UAAP—that’s something.”

Fresh from victory with the Philippine National Team in the 2011 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Matt Laurel is Ateneo’s own baseball golden boy.

Originally a Fighting Maroon, Matt sat out last season due to residency requirements. This season however, Matt is ready to grace the fields of Rizal Memorial, this time for the Blue and White.

Beginnings of a White Fluff

It was inevitable that Matt would endeavor to play in the field of dreams; baseball is in his blood. Two of his brothers play for DLSU, one plays for La Salle Greenhills, and he has a sister who plays softball.

When he was five, Matt would tag along with his older brother and cousins for training. “I was the fat, white kid on the field,” he says, earning him the nickname “White Fluff.”

But as he took the sport more seriously, his long weekends ceased to be long, suspended classes meant more time on the field to train, and summer vacations were foregone for training camps.

“When I turned 11, I lost my social life,” he says. “But I don’t regret it, because [otherwise], I don’t think it would’ve gotten to where I am now.”

Getting there

In 2007, Matt joined the Philippine team for the 2008 Olympic qualifiers in Taiwan. At that time, he was only 17, the youngest member of the team.

Though the team did not make it past the qualifiers, Matt says, “It was the biggest international competition I played in.” Facing teams racked with baseball pros from Japan and Korea is certainly not something one would experience on a regular basis.

Just a day after arriving in Manila, the team jetted off to Thailand for the 2007 SEA Games. Unfortunately, Matt was left behind—being a senior in high school, his academics needed attending to.

But four years later, he would get his own chance to represent the Philippines in the said competition, when he received word of a three-day national tryouts for the 2011 SEA Games. Along with his new and old teammates and his brothers, he went and tried out.

After three weeks, Matt’s dad got a call, bearing the good news that—out of hundreds—Matt got in the team alongside only three other new recruits: Carlos Muñoz of DLSU, and Ram Alipio and Fhedo Olivarez of NU.

SEA Games

In the 2005 SEA Games, the Philippine Baseball team emerged as champions. Two years later, they lost to Thailand in the Finals, finishing second.

“We came in thinking that we would play against Thailand in the finals,” Matt says of the recently concluded SEA Games. But that did not happen. The Philippine team defeated the defending champions by two in their first match, and swept the rest of their opponents to finish the tournament with a 5-0 record.

“We probably weren’t better [than everyone else]; we just wanted it more.”

Now, the team is looking forward to the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers—the World Cup of baseball—next year.

UAAP Season 74

The Blue Batters concluded last season finishing only in fourth place. With the veterans aided by strong freshmen and sophomore players, and Blue Eagle Kirk Long joining in for the season, Matt is confident that they can deliver this season.

Baseball aside, Matt is a core member of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that assists in building adequate housing for those who are in need. He also coaches young kids, and even his little sister’s softball team.

However, given the circumstances of playing pro baseball in the Philippines, Matt is still unsure if he would consider the sport as a life-long career.

“Maybe I’ll be an ad-man,” says the Communication major.

But for now: “Two gold medals. That’d make me really happy,” he says of the upcoming UAAP season.

Photo by Abram P. Barrameda

The Humble Horseman: Diego Lorenzo

by Niko P. Lim

In the only Olympic sport that does not discriminate by age or gender, and is largely dominated by women in the Philippine ranks, Diego Lorenzo emerged as the victor in this year’s Individual Show Jumping Equestrian event at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, held in the Arthayasa Stable Club, Depok, Indonesia. Making Diego one of the very few male Filipino gold medalists in recent history.

“Chamba lang! (It was just luck!),” Diego said of his gold medal performance.

“I had one week of intense training, as opposed to the rest who had a year,” said Diego.

Having been introduced to the sport at a young age, Diego has trained in Germany, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. At just 17 years of age, he earned a silver medal at the Individual Show Jumping event of the 2007 SEA Games.

“It was just this tournament that I didn’t have that much [time to prepare]. I wasn’t as sharp as I should have been, but I’m pretty experienced and my horse [Grace 292] was a superstar,” shared Diego.

Faced with up-and-coming riders from Malaysia and Thailand, the field was stronger than the previous SEA Games. “The scores were on a different level,” Diego said. This was evident as the Philippine team—despite having sent a strong team—fell short of gold to host Indonesia in the team event.

Yet, in spite of having to overcome the time constraints associated with being a student-athlete, a field of tougher competition, and a less than supportive Philippine Sports Commission, emerging with a gold medal attests to the caliber of Diego’s riding ability.

Diego’s gold medal was the result of anything but luck.

Entering the final day of competition, Diego was tied at first with fellow teammate Toni Leviste, arguably the most decorated Filipino rider, whose credentials include participation in the Show Jumping World Cup and the Summer 2000 Olympic Games. Both Diego and Leviste had bested the top eight riders who qualified for the individual event, setting up an all-Filipino race for gold.

However, despite being the obvious underdog, things just fell into place for Diego and Grace 292, as they nipped the duo of Leviste and Magic to earn SEA Games gold.

Unlike any other individual sport, where individuals have to be at the top of their game, in riding, both the rider and the horse have to be in sync. “On that day, it was anyone’s game. If it was [Leviste’s] day she could’ve beaten me, but it was my day,” Diego said. “I went to [the SEA Games] going for gold.”

Aside from attaining his management engineering degree, Diego plans to compete in the 2014 Asian Games, and possibly the Summer Olympic Games after that.

As Diego’s grandfather, Moro Lorenzo, did at the inaugural 1951 New Delhi Asian Games, who earned a basketball gold, Diego may very well follow suit in the 2014 Asian Games, which would end the Philippines’ 12-year gold medal drought in equestrian.