The University of Cebu Webmasters celebrate their championship finish in the Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals at the SM Seaside City Cebu./Glendale Rosal
With Jessica Jawad-Honoridez at the helm, UC sweeps Milo Regional meet for the first time
It seems that the motherly love from new athletic department head Jessica Jawad-Honoridez was all that the athletes of the University of Cebu needed to make history.
The Webmasters, under the watch of Jawad-Honoridez, went on to win the overall title of the 23rd Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals after topping both the secondary and elementary divisions of the annual multisporting meet that ended on Sunday.
UC reclaimed the secondary title with a whopping 199 points while its elementary team bagged 85 points to secure the title for the first time in the school’s history.
This is the first time that the school has ruled both divisions of the sporting event and it came roughly a year since Honoridez took over UC’s athletics department from Atty. Baldomero Estenzo.
So what was the difference? Jawad-Honoridez said it’s all about motherly love.
“Our investment with our sports program in UC is always with love from the President down to the coaches, athletes, and the parents. We always take care of the athletes,” Jawad-Honoridez said.
From the time she took over, Jawad-Honoridez said she started from scratch by getting to know the coaches of other sports and listened to their concerns in order to improve the performances of their athletes.
“It’s all about love. So I don’t wonder why we are here on top.”
Jawad-Honoridez’s motherly love for her athletes was in full display in the recent Milo meet. From the parade, to the competition, until the awarding ceremonies on Sunday at the SM Seaside City Cebu, Jawad-Honoridez could be seen taking care of her “children.”
This is why most of UC’s athletes call her their mom since they see that quality in Jawad-Honoridez.
“That’s how they described me, a mother to them. UC is like my extended family,” Jawad-Honoridez said.
Saying Jawad-Honoridez’s dedication is incomparable is an understatement. She has actually been serving UC for quite some time now, being the school’s table tennis coach for 20 years. She is the reason why the Webmasters are a powerhouse when it comes to table tennis.
Now handling the school’s entire athletics program, Jawad-Horonidez said she is using the same training program she used in her table tennis team with all of UC’s sports teams.
One of the key moves she did was to build athletes from the grassroots, which explains why UC topped the elementary division this year.
“If we want to build a strong team in the future, we should start at the elementary level. That’s how I made UC’s table tennis team formidable. I applied my style in the entire athletics department of UC, the support and training should start there, I hope this will continue,” said Jawad-Honoridez.
The University of San Carlos-Basic Education finished second in the secondary division with 141 followed by the Abellana National School with 111.7 points.
Runners up in the elementary division were Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (69.67) and Colegio del Santo Niño (64), respectively.