Best FSA Mamadou Toure Has His Eyes Set on More for OLFU

Few players have embodied the consistency of the Our Lady of Fatima University Phoenix in recent years quite like Mamadou Toure.

Despite being heralded as the Pinoyliga Next Man Cup Season 4 Best Foreign Student-Athlete, Mamadou reflects the credit and applause to those around him. For the veteran center, the award is one of the fruits of everything they’ve been working hard for. The trophy may bear his name, but he views it as a product of the team's collective work and the confidence his coaches and teammates placed in him.

Looking forward as he enters his fourth year with the program, Toure remains to be one of the key pillars of Coach Ralph Rivera’s system. During his first three stints with the Phoenix, the team finished as first runner-up twice before settling for a second runner-up finish last year. Having come agonizingly close on multiple occasions, he enters another season carrying a renewed sense of purpose. They don’t want to be just perennial contenders anymore. The accolades have come, the hard work has always been there, the foundation has been built, and the support never wavered, but the goal of bringing the crown home remains unfinished business.

Now as the Phoenix continue their campaign in the Pinoyliga Collegiate Cup Season 5, Toure sees the tournament as a valuable opportunity to prepare for the challenges ahead. Facing schools from the UAAP, NCAA, UCAL, NCAA South, ISAA, NCRAA and fellow NAASCU programs has allowed OLFU to gauge where it stands against some of the country's top collegiate teams.

With the preparations for the NAASCU season underway, every game serves as a measuring stick for the Phoenix. And for OLFU’s main man in the middle, the goal is to use every lesson, every test, and every setback from the past three years to help lead OLFU to the championship that has long remained just out of reach.