MIGUEL ALDEGUER: LIVING UP TO FAMILY TRADITION

Miguel Aldeguer comes from a family with a strong pedigree in sports. The Aldeguers from Bacolod are also solid green—most, if not all of them, were educated at the De La Salle system.

Miguel’s uncle, Dino, played with the De La Salle University Green Archers and also made it to the Philippine Basketball Association.

His grandfather, Tony Aldeguer, was the godfather of Cebu boxing, before handing over the throne to his son, Michael, who now operates the famous ALA Boxing promotion.

Miguel, who belongs to the new generation of Aldeguers, is crafting a name for himself in triathlon, where he intends to become a part of the national team.

“Ultimately ang goal niya (Miguel) is ma-represent ang Pilipinas sa Olympics. It’s going to be a long journey, but at least, he already has accomplished the first part,” said Miguel’s father, Jose Maria Antonio “Toots” Aldeguer.

Toots is very proud that Miguel is about to graduate from De La Salle University-Dasmarinas with a course in Business Management.

Miguel is a member of his school’s team in swimming which is his best strength in the sport that tackles three the disciplines of swimming, biking and running.

Toots says he is fully supporting Miguel’s next journey, no matter how long and difficult it would be.

Currently, Miguel is already working as part of the marketing team for a shoe brand. Triathlon would still be his major focus, though, and proof of that was his victory yesterday in the 2nd Baguio Aquathlon.

“Tinanong nga ako ni Miguel if he has to be competitive in the event, which his company is supporting, I told to go all out.”

Mackie Daus shares his interview with Miguel. Here’s an excerpt.

What motivates you as a person?

I’m always motivated by my goals, visualizing the outcome of what I do always keeps me motivated in doing more, not only in the sport but in life as well.

What Fuels your passion?

Success. Setting a goal for myself and being dedicated to the process of achieving it, I always think of training as a workshop wherein I can hone my skills as an athlete and have the opportunity to improve. But it really teaches you to be disciplined in what you do, and it changes your attitude on how you handle adversities in life.

How long have you been competing? 

As a swimmer? as a triathlete?—I have been competing in swimming for five years now. I only discovered my ability in multi-sport when I joined the Biathle, which was organized by Trisports Solutions Inc. back in 2014, and surprisingly I excelled at it.

On my first race, I already had a podium finish as first in my age group and fourth overall. I have been standing on the podium in the Biathlon, and this slowly revealed that maybe triathlon wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. So I started training for triathlon in 2015 when I got my first road bike. 

How did you prepare for your last competition? 

It starts by knowing what race I was going to do. Organizing the training schedule is a real struggle, but luckily I got help from experienced people who have been doing triathlon for a long period of time now. They said not to over-train especially at my age because it may cause injuries, which will hold my athletic career. Training smart is the best way to prepare for a race, which I did in my preparation for the Biathle 2017 after having raced 3 events in 3 consecutive weeks. Recovery is important to athletes, so we should always train smart.

How hard is it to balance work/study and sports?

At first, it was really hard for me because I was new to the student-athlete scene. It takes a lot of sacrifices when being a student-athlete, it takes so much of your time that it feels like 24 hours is not enough to accomplish all your tasks. Expect a downgrade of your social life since some of the athletes train twice a day, the time has always been against us. I learned to manage my time well which took me a while to adapt. Balancing studies and sports is really not that easy so managing your time is really essential.

What makes you different from the others? 

I am very passionate about what I do. I always visualize on who I could become and realize how would that feel. I myself want other people to achieve their own personal goals as well, but in the community of sports, I always wanted to help other people who are in need. I want to support those people who care less about what their situation they are in, but still thrive their way to their goals and dreams no matter the consequences.

Any tip for aspiring athletes like you?

Be the best you that you can be. Often times people want to become their idols, so we follow them, know how they do things, know how they train, how they manage their diet etc. We are all different, we are all destined for greatness in our own unique way. It doesn’t matter how different you are from the rest, being different is a good thing because we are who we choose to be through the decisions that we make and how we handle adversities in our own unique way. Have the courage to be yourself and have the courage to believe in yourself, believe in your capabilities. With Mackie Daus