Fire and Desire of Benilde Volleyball

In March 2023, a blazing sports event was held at the gymnasium of De La Salle College of Saint Benilde Antipolo— the “Animo Games” which showed how Benildeans executed their prowess competency extraordinarily well. There’s one competitor in the event who showcased a good performance and put a spark in the eyes of most Benildeans, the score-bleeding of one, Luis Maningas. He is a 21-year-old sophomore student who currently taking up a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and is also a part of the varsity team in men’s volleyball.

Luis checks all the boxes in sports categories excelling not one but also in multiple sports. However, in all of the sports he played, he became most passionate and dedicated to volleyball. This is heavily displayed by how laser-eyed he is in playing the sport. He was the team captain of his team in Animo Games 2023 “CommEduc.”

One of his former teammates on the team, Basti Diego, said that even though Luis has flaws in leadership, he personally admires how genuine, compassionate, and approachable he is. Which makes the team develop better connections with each other.

When he was in 3rd grade, he just randomly joined volleyball in a sports fest. He’s observing the people how they play the game and he does the same thing until he gets used to it. Until then, someone saw his potential and made him the reason to join the varsity team. Some may presumably think that he’s playing consistently for more than a decade, but it’s not due to various reasons such as the pandemic and when he doesn't feel himself wanting to play. For a long time, he's been playing the sport, it does give him confidence in terms of his physical and mental health. Knowing that volleyball is a mental game, he mentioned that “you win or lose and you’ll learn something from it at the end of the day.” He added that playing the sport makes him feel physically healthy overall.

While Luis is being called as a “student-athlete heartthrob,” by fellow Benildeans, as he embodies it from what he wears, his styles, his aura, and his charisma. Luis responded that he does appreciate all those types of comments and compliments from people, “Nakakataba ng puso” he said. While in terms of being a “student-athlete,” he would say that he is proud in a way he can manage his academics and being a varsity player, “After class… hindi ka lang naman basta-basta uuwi niyan. You have trainings as well, then you have to wake up early. So you must have discipline talaga.”

“For me, it's about loving what you do.” Luis directly said that from the long process he had been through, he doesn’t give up easily even when he encountered failure. Additionally, he would strive for better in order to maintain consistency until his accomplishments and victories came from doing what he truly loved.