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Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin speaks up on the tragedy that claimed the lives of Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili.
Ateneo Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin has broken his silence on the drowning incident that took the lives of rising stars Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili.
Baldwin made his first public statement on Friday, June 12, through a video posted on the university’s social media accounts. This comes a day after the mentor made an appearance during the vigil for Baterbonia and Adili at the Ateneo campus.
“There were two families that experienced a loss that was so much greater than ours, and a loss that would stay with them in the most acute way for the remainder of our lives. Never again would Rene’s mother and father, never again would Divine’s family be able to talk to their son, or touch their son,” Baldwin said, four days after the tragedy occurred at their offseason camp in Dipaculao, Aurora.
“Yes, as a coach, I lost my boys too. Never again would I be able to help them develop into the basketball player they wanted to be, to help them grow into the young man that they promised that they could be. But that’s insignificant compared to what your families are experiencing.”
Based on initial findings, the Blue Eagles were engaged in conditioning exercises in knee-deep water by the shoreline, where they were suddenly engulfed by massive waves and a powerful rip current.
Baldwin recalled that he and the coaching staff underestimated the conditions ahead of the “routine training run.”
“On that fateful day when we sent the players out for a routine training run in what we thought was shallow water, up to the moment when we realized that whatever had happened, they were in dangerous water,” he said.
“And we did everything that we could, as coaches, as people responsible for that situation, the players themselves did everything they could to ensure that everybody arrived back on shore safely.”
Ultimately, Baldwin acknowledged his shortcomings as he dealt with the emotional burden of losing Adili and Baterbonia.
“I failed as a leader. I felt I had failed as a coach. I certainly felt like I had failed as a friend to Divine and Rene. And when later I faced the team to try to be a leader in that moment, I felt that I failed them too,” Baldwin lamented.
Baldwin is now urging the public to continue sending their prayers to Adili and Baterbonia’s families, while further accountability for the incident.
“I’m so deeply sorry. And I’m so deeply sorry to not just the families, but everybody that feels let down, somehow betrayed. And I pray that we all find some pathway forward to come back to hope for the future, love for one another, and forgiveness for those of us who failed and tried so desperately hard to reach a better outcome.”
“I wish peace for everybody. I wish comfort for everybody who is hurting. And I pray that we will all find that. God bless you all. And we are trying.”
Banner images courtesy of the UAAP Media Bureau.