Officials of the Cesafi and representatives of SMART and Viva with the candidates of the Miss Cesafi 2016 after a press conference at the Cebu Country Club. CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON
Cesafi president asks coaches, school officials to keep their cool so athletes will do the same
With the national spotlight set to expose the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) basketball wars to an even wider audience, league president Fr. Dionisio Miranda, SVD, implored the coaches and other school officials to set a great example for the competing athletes.
With a spate of physical altercations sullying the league’s image during the preseason, Miranda put the onus of calm and composure on the men and women manning the sidelines.
“If the coaches keep their cool, then the athletes will keep their cool,” shared the Cesafi president. “We are on a different stage now. We have gained enough exposure to be invited on another stage, so we have to show a different face, a better image of Cebu – a city in progress, modernizing and cosmopolitan. We want to bring out the best in our athletes and not the worst.”
Miranda said coaches have to show the best example of sportsmanship and all the values and principles that go with developing athletes.
“Never forget that we’re trying to build up the total person. Be parents and older brothers and sisters to the athletes. Compete and make this interesting and in the end, remain friends,” he said.
To hammer the point further, league commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy said that starting this season, should there be any free-for-alls, not only will the players involved be suspended but the coaches as well.
“The coach should really be the role model. So the coach will be suspended also, not just the players,” said Tiukinhoy.
The different Cesafi coaches agreed with the new ruling.
“If we coaches only act as parents, brothers and sisters to the athletes, then we don’t have to be afraid of any penalties,” said veteran head coach Jun Noel of the University of San Jose-Recoletos Jaguars.
“Wala ra ko mahadlok anang mga penalties. Kamao na ta mulihay ana,” said University of the Visayas head coach Gary Cortes, eliciting a round of laughter from the assembled crowd.
It can be recalled that Cortes was suspended by the University of the Visayas last year after leading the walkout in a game against the University of San Carlos in Medellin.
The league will open this Saturday at the Cebu Coliseum with the guest of honor being no other than Philippine Sports Commission chairman, William “Butch” Ramirez.