Newest member of Cesafi to compete in seven events in maiden season
The University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu Mandaue (UCLM) may be new in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) this season but it isn’t going to be a pushover.
UCLM will now be a separate team from UC starting this season and it will be competing in seven events: chess, karatedo, taekwondo, swimming, table tennis, track and field, and badminton. All in all, it will be pitting around 170 athletes in its maiden season in Cebu’s premier collegiate sports league.
“Basically, we belong to one university [as UC] but we decided to apply for a separate membership in Cesafi because we want to highlight the potential of UCLM’s athletes from other towns and cities who are not able to go to the main campus because of the distance,” UCLM’s athletics coordinator and Students Affairs director Socrates Bedina. “Everyone in UCLM is excited to compete [in the Cesafi].”
Bedina said the idea of having a separate team came from UCLM Director Dr. Ann Son. It took five years for UCLM to join the Cesafi, from planning to recruiting the athletes, all the way to meeting the Cesafi board and getting the approval to become the 13th member of the league.
“We want to thank our president, Atty. Augusto Go, for giving us the chance to have our separate team for Cesafi. We are very motivated to give our best because our president gave us full support as well as our athletic director (Jessica Honoridez), who provides us with everything we need,” Bedina said.
While some may think UCLM will be starting from scratch, the school actually has some top-caliber athletes in its fold already.
Bedina cited in particular 15-year-old Jeremy Pepito and 16-year-old Cris Aldritz Pondoyo, who topped the blitz competition of chess in the Palarong Pambansa last April in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur.
“We’ve already been participating in the Cesafi before in various sporting events but we were under UC Main. Our most notable achievements were on the academic side but recently, our chess players won gold medals in Palarong Pambansa and we believe that they will be one of UCLM’s aces in the Cesafi,” said Bedina. UCLM’s best team would be our chess. Aside from Pepito and Pondoyo, we also have John Lester Belano and Adrian Basilgo, who are all competing in the secondary division.”
According to Bedina, UCLM also has strong teams in karatedo and taekwondo, teams that have competed in the Philippine National Games, Batang Pinoy, and Milo Little Olympics.
Still Webmasters
Although not much is expected from the school this year, Bedina said the school is optimistic with the development and is looking forward to getting better as years pass.
In fact, UCLM is planning to add teams in basketball next year and will hold tryouts for their high school squad at the end of the first semester.
With regards to the team’s moniker, Bedina said there is no plans to have a separate one with UC Main and will, thus, still carry the “Webmasters” name.
Other member-schools of the Cesafi are UC Main, University of San Jose Recoletos, Cebu Institute of Technology-University, University of the Visayas, Don Bosco Technical College, University of
San Carlos, Cebu Eastern College, Southwestern University-Phinma, University of Southern Philippines Foundation, Sacred Heart School Ateneo de Cebu, Cebu Doctors’ University, and Velez College.
The 18th season of the Cesafi opens on August 25.
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