Lets train harder

To remedy the transgressions of our past, we take a journey of redemption. I was told that one can redeem himself if he aspires and strives, but vital to the process of emancipation is acknowledging and owning up to our faults. I see that humility in Joe Devance. He’s in the process of making up for inadequacies he felt he had when the Alaska Aces lost to Purefoods in the finals of the All Filipino Conference. He really took the defeat hard.

The past cannot be undone. The best one can do is to try to make up for past mistakes. “Your failures make you stronger” shared Devance. These were words of wisdom his father, an ex-military man turned part-time boxing coach, taught him. Even coach Tim Cone saying their failures will help them learn is something that Joe keeps as a mantra nowadays.

After the finals, Joe carried a heavy load on his shoulders. “That fact that we had lost the Talk and Text series the year before and then the same thing happened all over again, and the fashion in how we lost it was embarrassing. I didn’t want to walk around; I didn’t want anybody to see me.” He went on to say that at that time, no positive encouragement seeped in. “It was all about basketball. It was our life. We worked hard that conference to be the number one team.”

Looking back, Joe said that he thought he played the conference well, even the Purefoods series, except for the last game. “That last game was my absolute worst game ever in my whole life.” He felt depressed and just didn’t want to show his face around. But what helped him get by was that his lovely wife Monica was about to give birth to their first born. “I had to move on, look after my wife and think about our baby”.

Isabella Noemi was born on March 18, and weighed 7lbs 12 ounces. She’s been an inspiration to her father since she took her first breath. “I look at my family and I see how much I mean to them. That’s what got me past the Purefoods series.” While they were still in the hospital, they showed a replay of game 4 of the finals and Joe couldn’t watch past the call out of the players. “I can’t dwell on the past. Now I’m ready to get back on track. It’s like a new start and it’s all positive.”

Joe revealed that he apologized to Coach Tim on how he played the last game. He said that Coach actually apologized back, saying he didn’t guide the team in his normal way. But Devance bears no bitterness, “We gotta give credit to Purefoods, they got us off our game, and coach out of his game.”

“We thought (that) after the Talk and Text finals and bombing (at the) last Fiesta Conference, we just would go out there and play. We played the whole conference hard and together. But, as soon as we hit Purefoods in the finals, everything went out the door, we weren’t the same team. I still don’t know why that happened”. In his head, as an individual, he has set his eyes on Purefoods, now called Derby Ace. “They are good and I think they’re the team to beat”. It’s all part of the process of redemption.