The local sports community is abuzz with the opening of the new season of the two foremost collegiate leagues in the country. The 89th season of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the oldest collegiate league in the Philippines, unfurled on June 22 , while the United Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) ushered in its 76th season with an elaborate ceremony today.
We Filipinos love sport. Someone somewhere said that basketball is really the national sport of Filipinos (In reality it is arnis based on Republic Act 9850). The nation is on a standstill every time Manny Pacquiao fights. We cheer the Azkals, the Malditas and the Volcanoes every time they compete in international tournaments. Some of our athletes are also among the best in the world and yet there is something very wrong in Philippine sports. We performed dismally in the last Olympics and the dream of winning the country’s very first gold medal in that quadrennial meet remains just that – an elusive dream. Even our performance in the regional Southeast Asian Games deteriorated, from being no.1 in 2005 to finishing 6th in the 2011 edition of the meet.
Continue reading with one of these options:
Ad-free access
P 80 per month
(billed annually at P 960)
- Unlimited ad-free access to website articles
- Limited offer: Subscribe today and get digital edition access for free (accessible with up to 3 devices)