It’s always a 'team first' mantra for Dave Lardizabal. That's why when the coaches asked him to switch between middle blocker and opposite spiker, the sophomore standout didn’t hesitate to embrace the change.
Since his high school days at National University Nazareth School, Lardizabal has anchored the middle blocker spot, a skill that translated seamlessly to college with Colegio de San Juan de Letran and helped him clinch the Freshman of the Year award in Season 100.
In the ongoing Season 101, though, Lardizabal has been shifting back-and-forth from his natural position to a wing spiker. But it's a change that the 19-year-old star has been seizing, revealing that he was asked to transition between positions during the Knights’ rocky start to the season.
"Ako naman, kung ‘yung coaches may tiwala sa akin, mas may tiwala ako sa sarili ko," Lardizabal told GMA News Online on Sunday.
"Sila nga, nagtitiwala sa akin na kaya ko so ako nagtiwala na lang din. Nag-practice lang ako at ginalaw ko lang sa loob ng court and ayun, nag-convert ako."
(For me, if the coaches trust me, then I trust myself even more. If they can place their trust on me, I can do the same. I just practiced and moved places on the court and there, I was able to convert.)
And so far, Lardizabal has been shining in his dual role. He has emerged as one of the scoring leaders for Letran alongside Vince Himzon and Bembem Bautista.
In their quarterfinals showdown against the top-seeded and twice-to-beat Perpetual, Lardizabal came out firing and detonated a team-high 26 points built on 21 attacks, two blocks, and three aces to help the Knights force a do-or-die on Wednesday.
"Kung saan ako ilagay ni coach, go lang ako basta makapag-contribute sa team," he added.
"Ngayon, parang sobrang excited kami sa laro. Sobrang ganado kami dahil merong mga mawawala na sa amin kung matalo kami. Competitive kaming lahat na maglaro and ayun ‘yung kinalabasan, nanalo kami. Mas ginusto naming manalo kesa matalo."
(Wherever coach puts me, I say go, so long as I can contribute to the team... Now, we're so excited to play. We're motivated because we have something to lose if we drop a game. We're all competitive and that's the result, we won. We really wanted to win, not lose.)
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
