Heart over height

BERNADETH Pons and Sisi Rondina may not be the tallest, but they sure have the biggest heart. ROMAN PROSPERO

It may look easy, but beach volleyball is far more difficult than indoor volleyball.

A lot of factors are in play here — the wind, the sun and, of course, the sand. But more than anything, there are only two players competing, making communication the most important factor in emerging victorious.

Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons do not have problem with that.

In fact, they have been playing together long enough that they already know the strengths, weaknesses and tendencies of each other inside and outside the sand court.

“We are solid — on and off the court,” said Pons, the former Far Eastern University (FEU) veteran who has been playing with Rondina for the past couple of years at Petron in the Philippine Superliga (PSL).

“We have been playing together for quite some time, not only in beach volleyball, but in indoor as well. With that, I am already familiar with her and know what it takes to win with her.”

Rondina and Pons — the country’s queens of the sands — would see action to finally end the Filipino’s hunger for medal in the beach volleyball event of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

Rondina and Pons share a lot of things in common.

Before rising to become a Most Valuable Player (MVP) for University of Santo Tomas (UST) in the indoor volleyball event of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), Rondina was a high-flying jumper in Campostela, Cebu.

She may lack the height, but her big heart is more than enough to allow her to transition from track and field to volleyball, where she blossomed into a star.

When the curtains of her collegiate career fell down, she has four UAAP beach volleyball crowns and four MVP titles under her belt, easily making her as the most decorated player to ever walk the sand court of the league.

“She is pure heart, pure talent,” said Pons, who locked horns with Rondina in the UAAP beach volleyball event quite a number of times.

“I learned from her to always stay grounded and be humble no matter what.”

Like Rondina, Pons was also hardly noticed growing up.

She came from poor family in Talisay, Negros Occidental and worked her way up until she earned an athletic scholarship from FEU.

“I grew up in the province and coming here in Manila was a tough decision to make. But instead of shying away, I embraced that decision and showed that I can handle it,” Pons said, adding that her first love was softball.

“All the trials I went through made me who I am today and who I will be in the future.”

Pons emerged to become one of the fearsome athletes both in indoor and beach volleyball.

She failed to win a crown for the Lady Tamaraws, but she spearheaded them to prestigious finishes and gave bigger programs like De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila University a run for their money.

All in all, she bagged three silver medals in UAAP beach volleyball competition while leading FEU to a first-runner up finish in her final playing year.

“I just fell in love with the sport. Everyday, I wanted to play it more,” Pons said.

But the challenges of the big city were too daunting for Rondina and Pons to overcome.

Again, they used their heart over height.

“FEU may have become my home for the past five years and it taught me to be independent and always fight for what you love,” Pons said.

Now, a bigger battle emerges in the SEA Games.

They know that the last time the country fielded a team in the biennial meet was in 2005 when Filipino-American beauties Diane Pascua and Heidi Ilustre clinched the bronze medal. Of course, they are taller and heftier than Rondina and Pons.

But the new queens of the sands do not mind.

“Of course, we are eyeing a medal finish in the SEA Games,” Pons said. “But Sisi and I know that it will not be easy because other competing teams are also powerful.”

“But we have been training hard every day since September and we are confident of our chances in the SEA Games”

Pons said in the end, tactic, height and speed would no longer be a factor.

She knows that when the going get’s tough, it will only boil to one thing: Heart.

And that’s what sets them apart from the rest of the field.