ALTHOUGH AMERICAN football is widely popular in the United States with over forty percent of American adults choosing the game as their favorite pastime, the sport finds itself taking a backseat here in the Philippines to sports such as basketball, volleyball, and even football or soccer. However, American football has recently been experiencing increased recognition in the country as evidenced by the numerous establishments of college and club teams nationwide over the past five years. Among the new wave of college and club teams is the recently established Blue Raiders, an accredited flag football team that represents Ateneo in the intercollegiate and open tournaments of the Philippine Flag Football League (PFFL). With multiple individual and team awards falling into the hands of the Blue Raiders and squad size growing year-by-year, the future of Ateneo flag football is looking bright.
Planting the roots of Ateneo Flag Football
Three years ago, the Ateneo Blue Raiders was established by a group of students simply looking to get together to play some football. However, with costs of proper football equipment and gear such as protection pads and helmets deemed far too much, the group decided to instead root for a much a cheaper and safer alternative— flag football.
In terms of rules, flag football is almost identical to those of traditional American football in which the offensive team is given four tries or “downs” to gain ten or more yards to receive a fresh set of downs. However, instead of physically tackling players to the ground to result in a “down,” the defensive team must instead remove a flag attached to a flag belt worn by the ball carrier to end a down.
Given the game’s relatively recreational nature, the founding members of the Ateneo Blue Raiders Club then decided that admission into the team should be open to any Atenean of any gender, whether he or she may be a student or faculty. This choice was essential as one of the team’s female recruits, Ariana Manalo, would then blossom into one of the team’s current defensive coordinator and anchor at the middle linebacker and cornerback positions.
Mikhael Tividad, who comes from the Philippine PFFL, would then join the mix as the team’s head coach, serving also as a mentor to the members of the team who are new to American football. Additionally, Tividad would constantly recommend “model players” from the NFL by position for the team members to study and observe. According to Tividad, studying the NFL players’ movements, route-running and defensive decisions, helped in his overall development as a player in the PFFL. Thus, he extends this tip to his players.
Growing the seeds
As the years rolled on, the club slowly started to grow in numbers as more people signed up for the club. Current Team Captain and starting quarterback Andrei Ona, who joined the team because she was drawn to the sport’s challenge, admitted that since the team is open to all people from all walks of life, the team’s overall growth both mentally and skill-wise, should be inclusive.
“Personally, I joined because it takes a lot of time and effort to be good at it. There’s an appeal to having to be athletic and dedicated to the sport. However, we don’t discriminate against people coming in here who are untalented or [not so athletic] but when they do get here, it’s all about one hundred percent work and one hundred percent improvement, I feel that there should be no way that you’re not [going to] improve on the team,” said Ona.
As of late, things have been looking bright for the Blue Raiders as just last year; the team finally obtained official accreditation to represent the school in various athletic tournaments. The team has repaid the school’s trust by gathering recent wins against the flag football teams of De La Salle University and the University of the Philippines.
“Right now, since we’ve just been accredited, we’ve been trying to represent the Ateneo properly by being good examples of Ateneans on and off the field. Aside from that, we’re trying to spread publicity about the sport itself cause it’s not the most well known sport. But we hope that by participating in tournaments and the like, we’re hoping that we can build some rapport with the student body, and hopefully the country,” explained Ona.
With veterans such as Ona, Manalo, and a talented freshman pool committing to the team for another year, the Blue Raiders have a lot more to prove to the Ateneo community in the future.
