University belt hoopsters aim for unity, not pride

by Alexandra Marie Saclao


THE PHILIPPINES is a country filled with rich culture and traditions that was influenced by the former colonizers of the country. One of those influences that Filipinos came to adapt up until now is the playing of sports. Whether one is only watching from the stands, watching at any place with a television on, or the one that is playing, it can be said that sports play an important role in the life of Juan dela Cruz.

But when you say “sports”, the first thing that comes to the mind of the Filipinos is basketball. With the sport, comes pride, privilege, and power, thus the term “competition”.

In the schools around the University Belt, sports is also one of the main things that make university life wilder. With the popularity of the basketball tournaments of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), one can think of the battle of the hoops 365 days a year.

University of the East Red Warriors’ Team Manager, Jesus T. Tanchanco Sr. or “Sir Jess” said that the unity of the different universities should be the number one aim of these sports activities, and that it should foster “fellowship, brotherhood, camaraderie, and love between the teams and its supporters.”

The rookie coach of the 2010 NCAA Juniors’ Basketball Competition, San Beda Red Cubs, Coach Britt Reroma, also said that in San Beda, they prioritize the learning of “proper values and education over basketball” and humility should be on their player’s top list.

Meanwhile, Far Eastern University’s point guard, Jens Dieter Knuttel, shared that being inside the court is different once they are outside. He said that the competition between their team and the other teams in the UAAP only stays inside the four corners of the San Juan Arena, the Philsports Arena and the Araneta Coliseum. He even said that he is friends with some varsity players from the other universities, like University of the East's Raphy Reyes.

When it comes to the level of competition between the premier leagues, UAAP and NCAA, Coach Britt admitted that being in the UAAP has more advantage than being in the NCAA, talking about the Seniors’ Basketball Games but it is NCAA who has a better following in the Juniors’ division.

The supporters of each team from the UAAP and the NCAA defeats the main purpose of unity in the UAAP and in the NCAA.

Sir Jess and Coach Britt both said that it is the supporters who take everything seriously. Coach Britt even shared that in every game of San Beda in the NCAA, the priests are always present monitoring on the students and the people watching the game to avoid bigger problems in the future. He also added that he and his team make sure that they are role models to their supporters when it comes to being respectful towards their opponents.

Too much attention from the media also play a key role in increasing the level of competition between the two premier leagues. Obviously, UAAP gets more media attention than the NCAA due to the reason that the former has more powerful university members than the latter. After all, the top four universities in the Philippines are all member schools of the UAAP. Some people even commented that media should pay more attention to NCAA because it has more basketball action than the UAAP. True enough, Team NCAA bested out the Team UAAP seven times in the UAAP-NCAA All Star Games since 2004.

Though the competition gets tougher and tougher by the minute, we must always remember that whatever happens inside the court, stays in the court.