SEA Games: Camaraderie, teamwork, special bond key to continued dominance of men’s poomsae team

By Erma Edera

For the fourth straight year, the Philippines emerged victorious in the men’s poomsae team event. Through winning the historic four-peat victory, brothers Dustin Jacob and Raphael Enrico Mella have been at the forefront of the country’s win.

Buoyed by the cheering home crowd, the Mella brothers and individual gold champion Rodolfo Reyes Jr. delivered a flawless performance and successfully defended their poomsae crown after securing a total of 8.483 points during the 30th Southeast Asian Games on Saturday.

Dustin Jacob Mella, 24-year-old jin, said their bond as a team was their advantage.

“Of course being a team. you have a certain camaraderie and iba yung teamwork. And Jr. being with us for so long, parang adopted brother na rin namin, we worked that way that’s why advantage for us yung friendship namin, yung bond namin outside of the competition,” Dustin told the Manila Bulletin.

“The key is humility, being open to each other, we are together not against each other; we all have our different strengths. Jr. is a high kicker, I have power, Rico has balance in terms of skills but we all complement each other and at the end of the day we just have to talk on how we improve together.”

Dustin also bared that the crowd’s rallying cry all throughout the taekwondo competition was crucial in winning their fourth gold medal.

“Wwhen we are here, kapag sumuntok ka, kapag sumipa ka, they’re cheering for us kaya parang na-attract kami pa na itaas kaya times two yung performance namin because of that,” he said.

Reyes, who delivered the first Philippine gold, said do on Saturday, said their training is a continuous process.

“Pahirap nang pahirap every year kasi kailangan namin mahigitan yung nasimulan namin kaya every training talagang we work hard,” he said.

Dustin said maintaining their place in the region is difficult.

echoed Reyes but he said that he was grateful after they dominate the competition.

“It’s hard to stay on top,” he said. “Other countries, other teams try to beat us.”

Raphael Enrico, a year younger than Dustin, shared that his brother is one of his biggest inspirations.

 

The trio are setting their sights on bigger challenges ahead after their victory.

“Next year, we have our world championship, so we are preparing for that,” Dustin said.

 

Source: Manila Bulletin