18/04/2026
God Bless our very own Trainers/Coach Joshua Faith Labartine Daiz , Jan Drylle Abella Abordo and Dean Mark Laurente. We are very Proud of you, we've seen your passion , dedication and it's unbreakable. May God guide you all throughout this competition and to all the participants God Bless✨
𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲
Two years away from school should have been a setback. A pause. A step behind everyone else moving forward.
But for Joshua Faith Daiz, a second-year Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management (BSHM) student, those two years did not feel like falling behind.
They felt like a movement.
Because while others stayed inside classrooms, he stayed on the field—training, competing, and quietly building a version of himself that no syllabus could ever measure.
His journey in football did not begin with a coach’s instruction or a family influence. It began with curiosity.
“Pagtikang ko pala’n grade 4 nakakayakan nak hadto nak sarili na amo tlaga football na tlaga. Kay nafefeel ko tlaga na gusto ko magdaog sugad. Naeengganyo man ako hadto pagkinita ha ira,” he recalled.
From simply watching games in school, he found himself drawn to the sport. What once looked like play—something “lingaw” and exciting, slowly became something more personal.
It was not something he was told to do. It was something he chose.
But like many beginnings, this did not come easy. He failed to make the lineup on his first try, a rejection that pushed him to briefly turn to another sport. For a moment, he stepped away. Yet football had already taken hold.
When he came back, he was no longer just trying, he stayed. This time, he earned his place in the first eleven, eventually becoming part of a team that brought home a championship. What started as curiosity began to grow into commitment.
But the biggest pause in his journey did not happen on the field. It happened in the classroom. After senior high school, he made a decision that would set him apart from his peers; he stopped studying for two years.
On paper, it looked like a delay. Time lost. A gap that could have set him behind. But those two years were anything but idle. Instead of stepping away, he stepped deeper into the sport. He joined tournaments, trained consistently, and even took on the role of mentoring younger players.
While others moved forward in a straight line, he took a different route—one that kept him close to the game he had always chosen. And when asked if he had any regrets, his answer came without hesitation.
“Sayang gad hiya kay dapat graduating naak yana, pero it na kuan na 2 years, na experience ko iton pag try out ngadto ha Manila hin ako la upod an akon mga teammates…iton na mga dako na tournament kumbaga damo talaga na opportunity it nakuha. Waray man ako mag palaro tungod han covid pero meda kuan nasaliwan na mga opportunities,” Daiz shared.
There was an awareness of what could have been, a version of him finishing school on time but it did not outweigh what those two years had given him. Because in that time, he gained something else. Opportunities.
He competed in tournaments beyond his hometown, including national-level exposure, and experienced playing in bigger stages that pushed him further as an athlete. He trained, learned, and grew in ways that could not be confined within a classroom. For him, the break was not a step backward. It was a different kind of progress.
Now serving as the captain of the LNU Football team, he carries not only his experience but also the responsibility of leading others, something shaped by years of staying committed, even outside the usual path.
Like any team sport, the journey is not without challenges. Inconsistent training schedules, academic responsibilities, and limited resources continue to test their preparation. Still, he remains focused. Because beyond the past and the detours, his goal is clear.
“Gusto ko kasi talaga na before mag-graduate ako didi gusto ko talaga na mag-champion it LNU,” he said.
It is a goal he carries not just for himself, but for the team he leads and the path he chose to continue.
In a world that measures progress by timelines and expected milestones, his story moves at a different pace. Because for him, those two years were never lost time. They were simply a different route, one that kept him moving, one that kept him playing, and one that continues to bring him closer to the goal he has always known he wanted.
Story by Nerie An Pombo | An Lantawan Features
Photo by Celso Bacho Jr. | An Lantawan Multimedia
Layout by Francis Angelo Batiancela | An Lantawan Creatives
