Another CESAFI 2014 has ended and looking back, this season may have been one of the most successful, free of all off-court “stress” and one that gave all schools the opportunity to shine. But did you know that the CESAFI is more than just basketball? We all have to remember that CESAFI is more than just the basketball tournament although it’s admittedly the most popular and most watched among all sports events played. So what were the other sports? Who won all these? Here’s a rundown of what took place and you make a call on which school has the most dominating sports programs in Cebu.
For basketball, Southwestern University won the college division title with University of San Carlos in second place and University of the Visayas in third; Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu won the high school division’s version of the title, with the UV in second place and University of Southern Philippines Foundation in third place. In volleyball, it was a case of a sweep for both college and high school divisions. SWU swept the both the men’s and women’s division titles (collegiate division). USJ-R was runner-up, and USPF third in the men’s division; while USC was runner-up and USPF third in the women’s division. USC won both the boys and high school divisions, with USPF finishing in second and USJ-R third in the boys division, and SWU runner-up with USJ-R third in the girls class. In football, USC won the men’s collegiate division championship with USPF placing second and USJ-R third. Don Bosco won the high school title with SHS-Ateneo second and USPF third.
Here’s a rundown of the different team event champions of the different events. Note that these are team championships. In sports that have individual events, many medals were also won by different athletes from different schools. The over-all team championship is based on the over-all performance of all the individual events of each sport. Lawn Tennis – Men’s: UC, UV, USC. Women’s: USC, UV, UC. Boys: UC, UV, USC. Girls: UV, SHS-Ateneo, USC. Taekwondo – Men’s: SWU, UC, USC. Women’s: USC, UC, USJR. Boys: UC, SWU, USJ-R. Girls: UC, SWU, USJ-R. Table Tennis: Men’s: UC, USC, CIT-U. Women’s: UC, USC, CIT-U. Boys: UC, USC, SHS-Ateneo. Girls: UC, USJ-R, SHS-Ateneo.
Swimming – Men’s: USC, UV, UC. Women’s: USC, UC, UV. Boys: SHS-Ateneo,USC, UC. Girls: UC, SHS-Ateneo, CEC. Scrabble: Elementary: USJ-R, UC,UV. High School: USJ-R, USC, UV. College: UV, UC, USC. Karatedo -Men’s: UV, USJR, UC. Women’s: USJ-R, UV, CDU. Boys: UV, UC, USJ-R.Girls: USJ-R, UC, UV. Chess – Men’s: USJ-R, USC, UC. Women’s: USJ-R, USC, UC. Boys: USC, UC, USJ-R. Girls: USC, UC, USJ-R. Badminton – Men’s: UC,USJ-R, CIT-U. Women’s: UC, USC, USJ-R. Boys: SWU, USC, DBTC. Girls: USC, SWU, UC. Athletics (Track and Field) – Men’s: UC, USC, USPF. Women’s:USC, UC, USPF. Boys: UC, USC, SHS-Ateneo. Girls: SHS-Ateneo, UC, USC.
Pardon all the alphabets and initials for each sport which can be bothboring and distracting. All this just goes to show that the CESAFI is very much alive and full of action on top of the more popular sports like basketball, volleyball and football. We also get to see the depth of the sports programs of the different schools. Are schools going all out to dominate every single event? Or will others make the strategic decision to focus on a few events and win these; and not bother about other events? We’ll see this once we bring out the over-all medal tally for all schools. Although the CESAFI does not declare an over-all school champion for a sports season, we have a fairly good idea of which schools have deep benches of athletes across all sports.
But why go into sports? Why do schools invest in sports programs andwinning sports events? Do they get anything in return like an ROI? Note that a lot of resources are needed to run a sports program.
Schools (especially the college level) provide athletic scholarships,sports equipment/tools, free board and lodging, meals and more. Sure, winning championships in the most popular events will give a school a lot of media attention in the sports pages of the local dailies, on radio and social media. Schools become more popular not only in the local scene, but also across the country and abroad.
But at the end of the day, we should all remember why schools are into sports. It’s best said as I paraphrase CESAFI President Fr. Manny Uy, S.J. when he said at the CESAFI Opening Ceremony that sports is a means to build people with character; build champions with character.
The trophies and medals that athletes win will eventually rot and even get lost, but the most important trophy is the athletes/person who should develop and grow to become a productive and effective person at the service of others and society.
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Time-out: Happy birthday to my Dra. Naomi.