For the past 20 years, the yearend holiday, especially on New Year’s Eve, brings back unpleasant memories to sportsman Roger Banzuela.
“Sad memories recur,” he said.
Through the years, the phantom pain continues here, he said, pointing at his right arm minus the hand which had been amputated due to a severe damage in his four fingers when an unlighted roman candle, a giant sparkler, which he picked up while clearing the front yard of fireworks debris, exploded in his hand.
Such an unusual case of sparkler explosion resulted in his fingers being cut off and later his wrist, too, to stop the possible spread of infection.
Physically, Coach Roger said, he managed to accept his fate.
“He’s a survivor,” his wife, Susan, said.
Less than two months after the incident, he steered the St. La Salle Lady Stingers to the McDonald’s All-Champions Cup in Metro Manila.
The competition featured the top volleyball teams in the country, including the UAAP titlist De La Salle University, which the Banzuela-mentored spikers defeated in five sets.
The win led to a string of national UNIGAMES titles for both USLS men and women’s teams.
Shortly after, he was named a recipient of the Banwahanon Award for Sports Leadership by the city government.
With Susan later working in the United States for 10 years until 2016, Coach Roger said he engaged in sports outreach activities, “which kept me busy and productive.”
He continues to encounter difficulties – like while driving, which made him use mostly his left hand, attending out-town conferences as regional official of the PRISAA and president of the University Games.
Coach Roger said he got spiritual guidance from Br. Roly Dizon, former USLS president, when he was still alive.
“Br. Roly helped me develop spiritual strength, especially in becoming more prayerful and stronger in faith,” he said.
He recalled getting a framed gift of appreciation from the Lasallian Brothers.
The coach was so surprised to find out years later when he had to change the aging frame that Br. Roly wrote a dedication inside it, acknowledging him for his contribution to USLS sports development and for the opportunity of their working together for the growth of sports in Negros and other areas.
Today, Coach Roger gets spiritual guidance from Fr. Arnold Deletina of the Redemptorist community.
So profound has been the impact of his spiritual development, he has been integrating virtues, values, and spirituality in sports in his training programs for coaches and athletes.
“They need to realize that in addition to their physical and emotional strength, they need spiritual guidance in their daily lives,” he said.
The training programs include those he has conducted as sports director of Foundation University in Dumaguete City where he transferred in 2015 after his retirement from USLS, where he served as varsity sports director for about 25 years.
Another challenge he has faced has been the effect of the explosion, which damaged both eardrums.
Eventually, he had to rely on a hearing aid, which he used for almost 10 years since 2010.
Earlier this month, Coach Roger got a surprise on his birthday – a new P80,000 hearing aid – bought by his former players and members of the local volleyball community.
“I was deeply touched with their birthday present,” he said.
His wife Susan added that the gesture made her shed tears, particularly after she realized that the funds for the gift came following a virtual conference-solicitation by his former players.
For Coach Roger, the emotional and mental pain took time – almost 10 years.
“Those were times when I regularly dreamed that I had my hands and fingers back, only to wake up that it wasn’t true and that was difficult it to bear,” he said.
Gradually, he realized that he had to move on with life, especially when he encounters accounts of those in a more difficult situation yet they manage to overcome their issues, “like people without hands and legs yet they engage in cycling and running.”
On the lighter side, he said his disability gave him the opportunity to stand ahead of others in lines, like airport counters, and getting served in buffets as well as being listened to by a quite crowd in public talks, especially when they realized that speaker is a national volleyball executive, who has no right hand.
Susan reinforced the spiritual impact in their life, saying that she reminds him the continued pain is as way of sharing Christ’s passion – like the thorn that pierced his body.
His pain is a reminder that despite our hardships, we continue to count our blessings, she added.
With his experiences 20 New Year’s Eves ago, Coach Roger expressed hopes that the plan of President Rodrigo Duterte to completely ban firecrackers will be implemented.
“Instead, people should take this occasion as an opportunity to pray that the pandemic will end for it has adversely affected our economy and our daily lives as well as sports activities, which we all love,” he added. – AVDC
