ATHLETES ALL HANDS ON DECK
Pao Reganit BY APA D. AQUINO AFTER A lengthy career playing football for the Ateneo in grade school up until high school, Pao Reganit (4 BS ITE) made a fortunate stroke of serendipity by being accepted into the Ateneo Rowing Team (ART) at the tail end of his freshman year of college. Now the Ateneo Rowing Team’s Captain, Pao has competed in prestigious international rowing competitions and garnered multiple accolades in just over three years of competitive rowing. A potential for stardom Early on in Pao’s newfound career, his coach saw him as a powerful contender for a spot in the national team, which motivated Pao to row and grow more. As the only rookie in the boat, Pao reached the repechage of the 2017 Malaysian Varsity Boat Race (VBR), which clarified his goals and cemented his foundation for grander achievements. “When I was starting out my goal was to just be a good team player,” he says. “I always made sure I would level or even try to surpass the effort my boatmates [gave].” In just the next year, Pao placed himself well within the ranks of the country’s most elite rowers and represented the Philippines in the 2018 Asian Rowing Coastal Championships in Hong Kong. Afterwards, his aquatic stint escalated in his junior year after he earned silver in the Men’s Coxed Four of the 2019 Chinese University of Hong Kong Rowing Championships. Taking the helm While his love for rowing deepened, his passion and ambitions also continued to overflow. In his senior year, the true blue rower steered the helm of the ART as Team Captain, taking on the challenge of uplifting others to join the boats. Upholding the mindset of growing together, building a family, and bringing each
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other up, his leadership style became the driving force of his team.
have held interest since I was a kid, this is what I want to [do].”
“As Captain in my senior year, my goal was to make sure that I would develop the skills and make sure that the team next year would have the same level of passion I had towards rowing,” he says. “ I wanted to leave a culture that [encourages the team to care] about each other, on and off the boat. Basically, a family; whether we win or lose, we have each other.”
However, rowing will remain a part of Pao’s life and will continue to shape his future ambitions through the invaluable life lessons that he has taken to heart from the sport. While the rowing scene in the country remains weakly supported, the decorated rowing athlete plans on returning to the sport and sharing what he has learned—hopefully through a position in the Philippine Rowing Association.
Of course, his run as Team Captain was met with its fair share of challenges. As most of last year’s team was composed of seniors, Pao took on the unnerving task of rebuilding. Instead of the previous recruitment method of inviting only former athletes, Pao revamped the system to welcome all students, even those from graduate schools. As he also shouldered the responsibility of training the current pool of new members in the past year, Pao went through an arduous journey as a leader. However, his efforts came to fruition when his team achieved something they had never done before: Reach the finals for all their events in the Malaysian VBR. The next flight plan Looking back, Pao is tremendously proud of his team and treasures the role that had been given to him as Captain—his position drove him to perform for his teammates and not for himself. These values carry on to his pursuits out of the boats and after college as he dreams of becoming captain not of a team, but of an airplane’s flight crew. “Becoming a pilot is also one of my dreams [because] I realized [that it] connects with [the rest of] my life,” he says. “When you’re flying a plane, you take care of people, you hold their lives, and as something that I
“I know that the sport is really undersupported, and I hope to give back after some time because it helped me build my character,” he declares. “My love for the sport will always be there.
o a P
