THE LOYOLA School’s inaugural Sports Recruitment Week (RecWeek) titled “Game Changer: Sports Recruitment Week 2015” was held from September 28 to October 2, 2015 at the Sec B and C Foyers. The event showcased a slew of unaccredited, accredited, and Non-University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Ateneo sports clubs and teams that opened up registration with the hopes of recruiting new members and gaining popularity amongst the student body.

Game Changer was spearheaded by the Blue Raiders Flag Football Club along with the various leaders of the 17 other sports organizations that participated in the event. They began promotions in the preceding week, mostly through social media and by the teams and clubs themselves. During the event, several of the groups performed demonstrations in the foyers, showing glimpses of their sports to the Ateneans who were passing by.

According to Bianca Rodriguez, member of the Blue Raiders and one of the head organizers of the Sports RecWeek, their motivation and main reason for creating the event was the club’s need for more members and increased exposure to the student body; this applied for the majority of the other sports clubs as well.

In previous years, many of the unaccredited sports groups struggled with recruiting a solid number of committed members. Although the Blue Raiders were not allowed by the Office of Student Activities to join the League of Independent Organizations (LIONS) RecWeek, they were encouraged to create a similar event for themselves, an activity which the Physical Education Department endorsed completely. With that, the idea of a RecWeek for the sports teams and clubs materialized and was further solidified by the high number of sports teams that showed interest.

“We realized how every team [had] a hard time recruiting new members and gaining exposure, so we tried to include all clubs and varsities,” said Rodriguez.

Developing the clubs

For many of these groups, having a RecWeek to themselves was not only an opportunity to expand membership, but to also propel their sport’s popularity forward both inside and outside of the Ateneo. Considering that the bulk of the clubs are fairly young and new to the Ateneo sports scene, the current members hope to act as catalysts in spreading awareness for their sport.

This is further highlighted by the fact that most of the participants are currently not accredited by the College Athletics Office (CAO) as official sports teams of the university, which means they are often overshadowed by the teams that compete in the UAAP.

Sports RecWeek Head Organizer Bill Dimalanta explains that the Sports RecWeek has two objectives: “One is to gain exposure for all teams, because we think that students here in the school, they don’t know that such sports clubs exist.” He further suspects that the general public is mostly only aware of the teams in the UAAP. Dimilanta explains that the Sports RecWeek’s second objective is for them to be able to help the clubs and teams in their recruitment, especially for those with only a few members.

The event met these objectives well, with just about all of the groups present at the RecWeek able to get a favorable amount of signatures during the open registration. In addition to this, both head organizers noticed that the members of the various teams and clubs grew closer to one another during this experience.

Because of these results, they now believe that a sports recruitment week will be held annually in the Ateneo. “I think it will become an annual thing because based on our first two days, most, if not all [clubs and teams], already [had] a good number of recruits,” says Dimalanta. “Based on that result alone, we will really plan to make another RecWeek next year, but we’re still going to check with the other teams if they’re interested,” he adds.

The possibility of more RecWeeks being organized in the years to come gives the current participants a yearly opportunity to achieve more membership and exposure whilst ensuring continuity. It also paves the way for new clubs and teams to be created and given a chance to recruit its own athletes, while making a name for themselves within the school.

Carrying the Blue Eagle name

Another benefit brought about by the chance of a Sports RecWeek happening annually is the long-term possibility of the currently unaccredited teams receiving accreditation from the CAO. According to Dimalanta, carrying the name of the Ateneo and being able to represent the institution in outside tournaments is one of the biggest honors for a team to have and is a personal goal of the clubs and teams.

Presently, the majority of the clubs and teams featured in the Sports RecWeek remain unaccredited and, therefore, cannot sport the name of “Ateneo” alongside the illustrious label of “Blue Eagle” in tournaments held outside of the university. To be able to do this, there are requirements that a team must meet. When asked about the process and requirements for official accreditation, CAO Coordinator Benjo Afuang says that “there should be an official intercollegiate tournament which is sanctioned by National Sports Associations. Basically, that’s the main thing.”

He went on to add that another important factor is a team’s ability to sustain a good number of members not just for the present year, but for the succeeding years as well. Believing that the first step in meeting these requirements is increasing popularity, both Dimalanta and Rodriguez feel that the Sports RecWeek will be an instrumental step for the both clubs and teams when it comes to receiving accreditation in the future.

One of the teams that benefited from the event was the Ateneo Handball Club. With the team currently on its third year, its members acknowledge the importance of one day being accredited as an official sports club of the Ateneo.

“Well of course, the club would be more prestigious [if granted accreditation] because right now, handball is just a starting sport in the Philippines,” says Ateneo Handball Club President Aldrin Moreno. “If we’re going to get accredited by the Ateneo, mas magiging prestigious for us, kasi kami yung pwedeng matawag na pioneers of the sport sa Philippines, lalo na wala pang UAAP handball (If we’re going to get accredited by the Ateneo, we’d be more prestigious since we could be called the pioneers of the sports in the Philippines, especially since there’s no handball in the UAAP yet).”

Ateneo Handball Club Vice President Junen Narito also added that the ambitions of the club to spread awareness for handball go beyond just collegiate competition; they plan to train hard and produce athletes who can compete for the national team while increasing the popularity of handball throughout the entire Philippines.

At the end of the day, with accreditation coming down to the presence of sanctioned tournaments and a team’s ability to sustain a good number of members over the years, the Ateneo Handball Club feels that the recruitment week was an extremely helpful step for the team and its goals. Other clubs and teams that undoubtedly benefited likely share the same thoughts: Aiming to one day carry the name of “Blue Eagle” as well as increase the popularity of their sport.

With the conclusion of the first ever Sports Recruitment Week, the multitude of non-varsity Atenean sports teams were given a stage to not only recruit new members, but to secure more exposure and get their names out into the Ateneo community..

In a school where the very idea of sports is associated with that of the UAAP, the Game Changer: Sports Recruitment Week 2015 seems like it was exactly what its participants needed to make their presence felt inside the Ateneo.