Graduating senior Bea de Leon celebrates Finals MVP Award

FILE: ” Thank you, Ateneo for showing me the world. The hardest part about being a student-athlete has never been the losses we endured but that it required the best of us everyday. Thank you, Ateneo for showing me that that is possible.” (Photo: @_beadel/Instagram)

After guiding her team to the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 81 women’s volleyball championship, Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Lady Eagle ended her collegiate athletics career with two gold trophies and a Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award.

Twenty-two year-old De Leon was hailed Finals MVP as they celebrated their comeback last Saturday, May 18, the middle blocker averaging 7.7 points per game.

After failing to win the top crown against De La Salle University (DLSU) during season 78 and 79 then Far Eastern University (FEU) the following season, De Leon contemplated in continuing with a fifth year in Ateneo, now saying that it was “the best decision [she] ever made.”

In her words to the press after the game, “Nothing compares to this feeling right now,” the team captain explaining, “I’d choose this over anything. First and last. That’s a Cinderella story, that’s a fairy tale.” She added, “I’m happy that coach O (Oliver Almadro) still called me up. He had a choice to replace me but he really called me up.

I still remember that day when he did,” elaborating, “I really wanted to use this to inspire my teammates, make them really feel how much I believe in them because I do. I really wanted to use it to make them play their best and be at their best.”

De Leon concluded, “We said whatever happened, we shouldn’t forget to be grateful that we’re here. It was really the best decision I ever made.

It was such a risk, but we’re here and we did it.”

While De Leon graduates with fellow Ateneo seniors Maddie Madayag and Kim Gequillana, Filipino-Canadian Kat Tolentino still has the option to play for the Lady Eagles in Season 82.