WNCAA wars unfold tomorrow at Philsports

Women empowerment in sports.

This is what The Women’s National Collegiate Athletic Association’s theme "Kababaihan, kaakbay tungo as paghubog ng sambayanan" suggests as it unveils its 33rd season with a basketball double-header tomorrow at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

Hosting the women’s multi-sports league for the first time is Assumption College of Makati City, which promises a colorfully presentation anchored on this year’s theme. The traditional parade of colors of the 15 participating teams will be the highlight of the rites at 10 a.m.

St. Scholastica’s College takes on Assumption at 12 noon in the college division while its high school teams battle each other at 3 p.m.

Other teams participating are defending champion College of St. Benilde, last year’s runner-up Lyceum, Angelicum, Chiang Kai Shek, Colegio de San Lorenzo, La Salle-Zobel, Emilio Aguinaldo College, RTU, Siena College-QC, St. Benedict, St. Scholastica’s Academy-Marikina, St. Stephen High School and University of the Assumption-Pampanga.

The event, sponsored by Adidas and supported by Molten and Mikasa, was formally launched yesterday in rites attended by participating school officials headed by WNCAA president Vivian Manila and Assumption College president Sr. Josefina Magat, who later inducted Manila and this year’s new set of officers.

"We expect to have an exciting and competitive year but the main purpose of this year’s edition of the WNCAA is to strengthen collegiate solidarity, discipline and sportsmanship among participating schools," said Sr. Magat.

Other than basketball, events to be played as regular sports spanning from this month to February next year are volleyball, cheerleading, taekwondo, swimming, table tennis, lawn tennis, badminton, chess and athletics.