BEFORE THE team banners unfurl, the drums reverberate and the players don their respective school colors, here’s a glimpse of how the Eagles of the Ateneo flock together. Take a peek at the fundamental process that can spell the difference between a championship contender and a squad that’s still missing a piece: Recruitment.
Scouting
The Ateneo is not in the business of hiring people to serve just as scouts. However, that does not mean that the university is not in the bidding for prized recruits.
A keen eye remains on the field in search of potential players for the Ateneo. This is due to the fact that a number of the coaches patrolling the sidelines also mentor regional and national teams.
Among these are Women’s Football Coach Robert “Bob” Manlulo, Men’s and Women’s Taekwondo Coach Jobet Morales, Men’s and Women’s Swimming Coach Archie Lim and Baseball Program Head Randy Dizer.
The coaches’ involvement in competitions other than the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), such as Palarong Pambansa, provides the Ateneo with a broader line of sight for recruitment. This way, the coaches get to spot players who will not only fit in their respective playing systems but also excel in their squads.
In fact, according to Maria Cristina Samaco, assistant to the director of marketing for the University Athletics Office (UAO), the baseball team that won their first championship last season is composed entirely of players trained and coached by Dizer in Little League Philippines.
Scouting has another important function in the university’s recruitment process: Finding female athletes. Because the Ateneo is exclusive for boys at the elementary and secondary levels, coaches are obliged to outsource players for the various women’s teams.
As a number of them also teach at exclusive girls’ high schools such as Miriam College and St. Pedro Poveda College, coaches often utilize their networks to solve the problem of filling out the women’s team rosters.
Grassroots program
The Ateneo High School and Grade School still provide a huge pool of candidates for collegiate competition through the university’s grassroots program.
The grassroots program involves training and developing young Ateneans to get them ready for higher levels of competition, such as the UAAP. This applies especially, but not exclusively, to basketball, football and volleyball.
“The goal of the grassroots development program is to make our own pool of athletes who will play for us in the collegiate level or even for the national team. It is like a feeder program,” explained Samaco.
At the grade school level, young athletes are directed to develop physical fitness and love of the sport. The real training begins at the high school level, where the coaches start to spot players who will be fit to go up a notch and compete in college.
Through its continuous efforts to support the various athletic programs, the UAO assures the coaches that they will be able to harvest players who have not only the potential, but also the proper training to be valuable athletes.
The university also provides summer programs that are offshoots of the grassroots model. These programs offer training and skills development for numerous sports. The Ateneo Basketball School and the Ateneo Football Center are two such programs.
In addition, UAAP sports with high school counterparts in the Ateneo also serve as a source of talent for the collegiate level. Prime examples of recruits from here are Mikko Mabanag and Kiefer Ravena. Mabanag, a key part of the Men’s Football squad that clinched the championship last season, is a product of the Ateneo Junior Booters program. Ravena on the other hand, played for the Ateneo Blue Eaglets in high school before starring for the Blue Eagles.
However, not every high school athlete from Ateneo makes this transition to the Loyola Schools. According to the UAO, this is primarily due to athletes’ choice of college course.
“There are courses that we do not have here in Ateneo. For example, Ateneo does not offer civil engineering, so they move to UP (University of the Philippines) or UST (University of Santo Tomas),” Samaco said. “Other than that, I do not see any more reason for them to transfer.”
“It is actually very rare that our [high school] student-athletes transfer because they are being recruited by another school, [even when] offered scholarships and all. And I believe this trend is due to the fact that the ultimate goal of most of our high school athletes is to get into Ateneo for their college education,” she added.
Quality education
Of course, all of the players who represent the university are student-athletes, and being a student comes first. This fact influences both the student-athletes’ and the university’s approach when it comes to recruitment.
The Ateneo prides itself not only in developing the skills of athletes who wish to enter the collegiate teams but also in assuring them of quality education for their entire stay.
“When we recruit, what we always say to the kid is, ‘If you come and study here in the Ateneo, we will assure you that we will do everything we can to help you graduate,’” stressed Samaco, who added that the percentage of Atenean student-athletes who graduate is very high.
When sked why she chose the Ateneo, freshman psychology major and Women’s Volleyball rookie Julia Morado from Colegio San Agustin Makati replied, “I had offers from other schools, but there is something about the quality of education in Ateneo. I cannot really explain it. It is like Ateneo has something that the other schools I considered do not have.”
“It is academic excellence. More than our tradition in sports, the school’s excellence in academics attracts student-athletes to enter the university,” Samaco said. “And of course, the name and school pride that Ateneo has are things an athlete coming from another school or from the province would want to be a part of,” she added.
Aside from quality education, a select group of talented athletes are also offered athletic scholarships—which include free lodging at the University Dormitory—by the Office of Admission and Aid.
Residency rule
Recently, the UAAP board announced the implementation of a two-year residency rule for the upcoming season. The new policy requires transferees from one UAAP member high school to another UAAP member college to sit out for two years before being eligible to play.
Despite the outcry that met this new rule, it does not seem to pose a threat to Ateneo’s overall recruitment scheme.
“The new UAAP Residency Rule does not really affect our recruitment process, because we do not normally recruit from other UAAP participating universities,” Samaco said. “If ever we encounter problems regarding the rule, it will only be because we recruited a player who we think can really help us.”
According to the UAO, the Ateneo only gets players from UST High School for taekwondo and De La Salle-Zobel for volleyball and baseball.
All in all, the recruitment process of the university is not merely about seeking players with the potential to help the Eagles earn wins. More than for scratches on the win column, Eagles compete for school pride and Atenean glory.
Ateneo recruitment is inevitably a search for hands that are not only worthy of carrying the torch that bears the university’s sports tradition, but also those deserving of quality Atenean education.
