PALEMBANG -- After Philippine rifle shooter Jayson Valdez failed to advance in the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions last Tuesday, he slumped to a chair and looked at his results from a wall monitor's screen.
He looked disappointed more than he was exhausted and tried to assess what went wrong. He scored a total of 1142, good for only 20th place, 12 slots below the qualification cut off.
"I think I wasn't able to get the kneeling and prone. I lacked that training in Manila," said Valdez in Filipino. "Though this was the event that I was hoping for to enter the finals. It's unfortunate. I knew I could do it."
In 50m Rifle 3 Positions shooting, an athlete must shoot in three methods: kneeling, prone, and standing. Valdez only managed to score 376 while kneeling, setting off a bad start. He eventually found his rhythm late, especially in the shooting round, but he was too far behind by then.
While Valdez was sitting and grappling the tough defeat, his father, team trainer and former Philippine national team shooter Julius Valdez, grabbed the seat next to him. The two generation of Filipino gunners enjoyed a light touching moment sitting side by side and talking about the sport they passionately share.
Julius Valdez, now 58, was one of the top Filipino shooters back in his heyday. His crème de la crème was garnering three gold medals and one silver at the 1987 SEA Games.
When Jayson came along, Julius used to let his son shoot a couple of shots at the range. At that point, it was purely for fun, a bonding moment for the two without the idea of actually taking up competitive shooting.
"He was even scared to go to the range before because he said there were statues of snipers," Julius recalled with a chuckle. "Sometimes when I was done shooting, I would let him fire a few bullets."
Jayson first took up taekwondo and when he was 13, turned to competitive shooting. Tac Padilla, a multi-gold SEA Games medalist and former national teammate of Julius, encouraged that it was time for the son to follow the footsteps of the father.
"Tac Padilla had a shooting clinic and he encouraged me to start [training] my son. He'll support him," shared Julius. "Until now he continues to support Jayson."
It wasn't long for Jayson to learn the craft of his father and be a national team member himself. Julius eventually became the trainer of the rifling team and personally oversaw the development of his son. At first, a few officials of the shooting federation were skeptical. They felt that Julius was being selfish and overprotective. But when Jayson started winning international competitions, there was hardly any doubt that their relationship worked.
"Jayson is easy to give instructions and easy to teach. And he follows me," the elder Valdez said. "Plus I don't have a tight grip on him. As I've said, it's harder to coach your own son as opposed to other shooters because with them you can impose yourself. When it's your son, it's kind of hard."
"It's hard, hard to coach a son."
Jayson Valdez's bid for Asian Games glory has come to an end after just two days of competition. He lost in the 10m Air Rifle event on his first day but did manage to break his own Philippine record. Before attempting for the 2019 SEA Games next year, he plans to go back to basics and train harder. Then he's eyeing the SEASA Shooting Championship in December.
Things are actually looking up for Jayson as past issues with the Philippine National Shooting Association are slowly being resolved. New officials have taken over and funds are being managed better. Jayson and other shooters like Amparo Acuña, will hopefully get new equipment and gear in the near future. With proper support, Julius believes that the sky is the limit for his son.
"He's still a kid. He'll realize one day that the things I've been saying are all for him," Julius said about the potential of his 22-year-old son.
And the young shooter is more than ready to take on the challenge. "I'm not yet done. I still haven't proven myself even though I've been in the sport for so long," Jayson said confidently. "I still haven't shown (my dad), what I can do. And I can break all the records he made. For me, that's still my aim even though I'm still looking at the 2020 Olympics."
One day, Jayson hopes to become a shooting great just like his father. Even better, he aspires to carve his own path and achieve bigger and bolder things for himself, for his dad, and for the country.