Magis Eagles boost Cesafi preparations by hosting invitational meets

SHS-AdC Magis Eagles student-athletes during their recent pep rally at the SHS-AdC campus in Mandaue City. | Photo from Jon Ralph Christopher Inot via Glendale Rosal

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles held a unique way of preparing its athletes for the return of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) by hosting various sports invitational tournaments.

For the past months, the Magis Eagles have been preparing over a hundred athletes through rigid training and exposing them to various invitational sports events at the SHS-AdC campus in Mandaue City.

For instance, SHS-AdC’s high school basketball team, the many-time Cesafi high school basketball champion has competed and even won a Cesafi pre-season tournament in Bogo City last month. They also welcomed the UAAP men’s basketball first runners-up, the Ateneo Blue Eagles for a training camp at their campus in Mandaue City.

In addition, the Magis Eagles organized an invitational swimming competition and the St. Ignatius Volleyball Cup and plans to add more such as football, table tennis, basketball, and taekwondo.

All of this was made possible by SHS-AdC’s athletic staff headed by its new athletic director Jon Ralph Christopher Inot, who succeeded the late Rico Navarro.

In an interview with CDN Digital, Inot revealed that they’ve already laid out their plans and preparations ahead of Cesafi’s return after he was appointed earlier this year.

” Before the start of the school year when I sat down as the new athletics director, we had a talk with the coaches with different sports coaches and made our short-term strategic plans for the year. We were able to identify some challenges like the lack of training and tournaments/tune-up tournaments for the other sports,” said Inot.

“So we made the initiative to conduct invitationals for the different sports as a venue for us to test the waters for the different sports which is in its rebuilding phase. We call it the Ateneo de Cebu invitational tournament. Kung walay liga,maghimo tah.”

Last week, the athletes competing in the Cesafi attended SHS-AdC’s “Parade of Athletes” pep rally where they received cheers from the Ateneo Hearters community.

Inot also revealed that besides volleyball, basketball, and football, they are also banking on other sports for this Cesafi season.

“Coming into CESAFI Season 22, almost all of the Magis Eagles sports programs are in a rebuilding phase. But I am confident that we do have competitive teams and individual student-athletes who can challenge the best teams in high school CESAFI. The marching order for this year is to be competitive but also have fun. They deserve it, and we all deserve it,” added Inot.

“The Magis Eagles’ tagline for this year is “Onwards and Beyond”. It means we will now be looking forward and onwards already while still sticking to our value which is to do more and be more.”

Inot said their athletes are very excited to compete again after a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.      /rcg

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