UAAP season to put accent on Olympism

College sports will make perhaps the most significant leap forward as season 66 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) focuses on the pinnacle of objectives in all of sports–the spirit of Olympism–when the league opens shop July 12.

"This season, the UAAP aims to help promote the spirit of Olympism right where the future of Philippine sports is to be rooted," said Jose Capistrano Jr., president of the UAAP’s 66th season and Ateneo’s representative to the league board.

With the theme "Olympism: Blending Sports with Culture and Education," season 66 host Ateneo, according to Capistrano, would want to create more awareness and impact on next year’s 2004 Olympic Games which will be held in the games’ birthplace in Athens, Greece.

"All sports" takes centerstage in the UAAP’s goal this season, the league having been able to successfully set the foundation of putting emphasis on the 13 other disciplines played outside of the centerpiece men’s basketball last season.

Capistrano emphasized that the league has, all these years, focused on promoting a goal of "all sports."

"To cite one of the league’s goals in the UAAP charter, to develop athletes of national and international caliber in support of the country’s sports development program, we believe the UAAP would be on the right and solid track with our ‘all sports’ endeavor," said Capistrano.

Capistrano, who is alsoexecutive director of the National Olympic Academy of the Philippines which the Philippine Olympic Committee has established, said that for the first time in league history, all 14 sports in the UAAP calendar would grab the spotlight during July 12’s noon opening ceremonies at the Araneta Coliseum.

Besides basketball, volleyball, chess, swimming, table tennis, athletics, tennis, fencing, taekwondo, men’s baseball, women’s softball, football, badminton and judo are also played in the UAAP. The Blue Eagles, who are favored to defend the men‚s basketball crown they won in a drama-filled final against archrival De La Salle last season, have prepared a lavish opening rites that aptly underlines league’s goals this season.

Mikee Cojuangco Jaworski, an Ateneo alumnus who bagged the equestrian gold medal in last year’s Busan Asian Games, takes the podium as main guest, an indication of the league’s recognition of the exploits of athletes who do battle in the sporting arena.

Opening day seniors matches right after the opening ceremonies will pit University of the

Philippine against National University at 2 p.m., De La Salle against University of Santo Tomas at 4. A juniors encounter between De La Salle and UST is set at 6.

The Blue Eagles only get to see action the next day, July 13, against the Red Warriors of University of the East.

The men’s basketball games will alternately be played at the Araneta Coliseum and the Blue Eagle gym at the Ateneo campus in Quezon City.