Thumbs up for new UST gym

MANILA, Philippines - PBA special assistant to the commissioner Willie Marcial and Blackwater Elite PBA D-League team owner Dioceldo Sy recently visited the new 5,792-seat P800 Million UST gym, called the Quadricentennial Pavilion, to assess its suitability as a venue for PBA and PBA D-League games. Both gave their unconditional thumbs-up.

“It’s a state-of-the-art facility,” said Marcial. “We will surely bring it up to the Board of Governors as a possible alternative venue for future games.” Aside from offering high-quality playing conditions, the venue is situated in a main hub of commuters so that if the PBA plays games in the arena, it will mean bringing the league closer to a mass demographic. The Pavilion is located on an 12,000 square meter property at the UST campus that used to be an open field for tennis, football and basketball.

Sy, a former PBL chairman, said if UST officials allow, the four-level Pavilion will be the new practice home of Blackwater Elite which is suiting up six Growling Tigers in the coming D-League third conference. The Tigers in coach Leo Isaac’s roster are 6-4 Chris Camus, 5-10 Jeric Fortuna, 5-11 Clark Bautista, 6-4 Melo Apuang, 6-4 Aljohn Mariano and 6-5 Paolo Pe.

There is still no formal project turnover to UST but a spiritual retreat has already been scheduled on Feb. 22. The Porter basketball goals are installed but the nets are covered. The Robbins maplewood hardcourt is in place. A four-sided electronic scoreboard from a specialist Kentucky supplier Sportable will be delivered soon by Millenium Sports Universal Co., the local distributor owned by Eugene and Julie Eugenio.

What makes the Pavilion unique is the retractable rows of polyprothylene chairs with arm and back rests. Millenium has provided retractable rows for Brent School and Colegio de San Agustin but none with the same type of chairs. “It’s the first of its kind in the country,” said Eugene Eugenio. “At the Smart Araneta Coliseum, there are retractable platforms without seats. But at the Pavilion, our retractable rows come with 1,562 seats. Outside of the playing court, we used engineered wood, also by Robbins, so that if you take out the retractable rows, you get a wide space with wooden flooring for other events.” Hussey, a supplier from Maine, provided the retractable rows and chairs up to the fourth level.

On the third level, the Pavilion features a two-lane overall track surrounding the building. On the ground floor, Millenium installed 2,985 square meters of resilient rubberized flooring for badminton, volleyball, gymnastics, table tennis, judo, fencing, dancing and other sports. The ground level also has classrooms, a physical fitness center and administrative offices.

Internationally-renowned architect Meloy Casas, a UST graduate, undertook the project. “It’s an honor to be part of your alma mater,” said Casas who also provided the interior design of the building. “We are looking forward to the official opening.” Casas said all classrooms are on the ground floor while some offices are on the second floor with locker rooms as it is where the court is.

Eugenio said he coordinated closely with Casas and his staff for three years in the planning and design stage before the groundbreaking in July 2008. “The objective was to build a seating capacity of at least 5,000 so we looked for the right dimensions of seats and retractable rows to fit the size of the building,” said Eugenio. “We worked closely with Architect Casas and because of our performance, we were asked to provide the sports equipment for the new Alphaland project in Makati. We also supplied the improved Robbins portable flooring and new Spalding goals as the NBA standard for the Mall of Asia arena.”

Sy has sponsored the Blackwater team in the first two D-League conferences. So far, the squad has advanced only up to the quarterfinals. In the recently concluded conference, Blackwater suited up only two holdovers, Gio Ciria Cruz and Rocky Asidre, four UST cagers, Neil Pascual, Ice Ciria Cruz and La Salle recruits Sam Marata and Maui Villanueva.

“We’re happy in the D-League,” said Sy. “We’re not rushing to enter the PBA. Our goal is always to win the championship. This conference, we’re hoping to be more competitive with our six UST players, A. J. Mandani, Kelly Nabong, Mark Jeffries, John Semira, Rob Celis, Choy Ignacio, Paul Zamar, John Montemayor and Mark Bringas.”

Isaac said the D-League prepares players for the jump to the PBA. “The age limit is 26 and you can recruit as many ex-PBA players as you want,” he said. “Three players who went from the D-League to the PBA were Bambam Gamalinda, Borgie Hermida and Ogie Menor. This coming draft, I’m sure D-Leaguers Chris Ellis, Cliff Hodge and Dave Marcelo will go in the first round. We are limited to recruit up to five Fil-foreigners. We can go up to a 16-man lineup with two reserves and 14 to play. Each team has a conference-to-conference commitment.”