Despite being led by top-notch, nationally acclaimed coaches, the Blue and Lady Paddlers have yet to capture a trophy in the UAAP. The Women’s Basketball team, who overcame the UP Lady Maroons to championship glory just three years ago, has rapidly flown under the radar, and this year, the taekwondo Jins, once championship contenders, faltered due to major recruitment problems.

On the one hand, the Blue Rowers who have brought home multiple championships from abroad—representing the Philippine nation in international competitions—now face extinction with no one to take the reins of the graduating seniors that comprise most of the team.

Funding, recruitment, and others issues—The GUIDON unravels the truth behind the many theories on the state of Ateneo teams.

Struggle for survival

“If everything is being provided for them, why is that happening?” University Athletics Office Director for Operations Emmanuel Fernandez poses.

His answer, “It could happen [for instance] in the taekwondo men’s team, everyone got injured, so they lost. For the women’s basketball team, it could be that they’re rebuilding. They have a new coach, so it will be a new team,” says Fernandez.

Despite these sentiments, it is hard to ignore the cold facts: rowing, table tennis, taekwondo and women’s basketball don’t quite share the same spotlight with the more celebrated units of Ateneo’s athletic community.

Why not rowers, too?

Last October, the Blue Rowers were exceptional at the Varsity Boat Race in Malaysia. As the sole Filipino delegation, they proved that heart plays an equally large role as height and breadth—both of which their foreign rivals possessed as an advantage.

However, a member of the team, who asked not to be named, fears that the future of Ateneo rowing may not be as bright, saying, “Since the program was rejuvenated by Martin Yambao (AB EU ‘10) four years ago, it has [started to go] downhill.”

Aspiring rowers are often put off by the demands and rigors of the system. Add to that the minimal funding provided by the College Athletics Office and the lack of publicity given, and you’ve got quite an unattractive option. Despite commendable efforts and superior results, the rowing team just can’t seem to please. Time and time again, they fail to elicit the same praise given to the more popular teams in the university.

He adds, “There isn’t really anyone to blame for the decline but the lack of popularity of the sport.”

Rules of attraction

Every year, athletes from different high schools try their luck at taking their games to the big universities. Apart from finding a school that will have their best interests at heart, athletes take into consideration a number of other factors.

“Education and the name of the school are what draw athletes to a university,” Blue Booter Anton Amistoso says, citing “UP, Ateneo and DLSU” as the bigwigs of athletic recruitment. “If I’d had to decide between a full scholarship from a school of ‘less caliber’ and only a partial scholarship from Ateneo, I’d still choose the latter.”

“In the recruitment world, it’s about giving the athletes the best thing–you’re trying to win them over. It’s usually the scholarship [that does it].”

During recruitment season, coaches scout for prospects, sometimes spreading out into the provinces and even abroad. When they find talent, these athletes are recommended to the UAO, and scholarships become open to negotiation, but only after they have passed the Ateneo College Entrance Test (ACET)—a determining factor, considering that if it wasn’t for the ACET, several athletes now in opposing UAAP colors, could have suited up for the Blue and White.

Coach’s corner

“Many of the prospects we have, are really good, but are not able to play for Ateneo, because they do not pass the ACET,” Floyd Lubaton, Blue Paddlers’ head coach since 2001, explains.

He continues, “Everything is in place. We have top-of-the-line equipment and very qualified coaches. The problem is not so much a lack of support from the school; rather, we are not favored by school policy.”

Lubaton and his distinguished staff, comprised of Mario Dreiva and Rodell Valle, are therefore left to fill the team’s gaps where they can find them.

“Players fielded by the other schools come from the national level like Palarong Pambansa. Most players we have are just recruits from PE class,” says Lady Paddler Rhome Yu.

“In the collegiate level, training is mostly fine-tuning of the technique and skills which [supposedly] have already reached a certain level. The lack of recruits forces us to have to teach many players from scratch,” adds Dreiva.

The team has expressed their concerns in letters of appeal to officials, but oversights are not uncommon given the volume of pleas that the UAO receives.

Equity, not equality

Another factor that may appear to be in the way of these teams’ victories is funding. While certain teams receive donations, others must work with the money allocated by the school.  The UAO quickly dismisses the issue, declaring that “funding will never be equal–and there are so many reasons.”

“[Take] basketball–16 players. Table tennis has eight players. Taekwondo has nine. A taekwondo uniform is 1,500 pesos. A table tennis uniform is 800, costs and needs vary per sport. We provide what they need,” Fernandez says.

The sixth man

During games where rivals are on more or less equal ground, athletes agree that there is one thing that could possibly decide the outcome: The Sixth Man; also known as their support system.

“Of course it’s a factor,” agrees Fernandez. “Kung lumaki ka dun, alam mo kung ano lang yung fan base mo (if you grew up playing a sport, you are aware of your fan base). In the Philippines, it’s just men’s basketball—actually, (just) men’s basketball in the UAAP. When they’re playing in another tournament, wala rin namang nanonood (no one watches either).”

But in any competition, atmosphere is everything. There is a mutual response in a goalkeeper diving for a save; in a sprinter racing for the finish, while a hushed crowd holds a collective breath.

It’s all about momentum; athletes are driven to play with more intensity and confidence, knowing that their fans have come for reinforcement.

Will you be the dying breeds’ Sixth Man?