IN THE storied history shared by the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and Ateneo, there remains one notable absence in the latter’s trophy cabinet—the UAAP Overall Championship. Because the prospect of bagging the general crown has escaped the University for decades, capturing the title will solidify Ateneo’s status as one of the best universities in collegiate sports. However, in order to win the general championship, the University must look into refining recruitment, budget management, and the athlete’s semestral academic load.

An elusive crown

First awarded in Season 10, the UAAP overall championship is given to the university that has accumulated the highest point total from all UAAP sports at the end of each season. The points system is computed based on each university’s ranking in the UAAP’s 15 sports, with the champion university garnering 15 points, first runner-up bagging 12 points, second runner-up gaining 10 points, and so on.

Given the points system, universities that compete in all 15 UAAP sports have a distinct advantage. However, among the four universities who compete in all UAAP sports, Ateneo is the only school without a UAAP overall crown. The University of Santo Tomas has an astounding haul of 44 titles while the University of the Philippines and the De La Salle University have five and three, respectively.

Despite the glaring absence of the general championship in Ateneo’s history, the last decade saw the University steadily improve in its overall standings. After placing fifth overall in Seasons 73 and 74, Ateneo snagged fourth place in Seasons 76, 77, and 80 while managing to get hold of third place in Seasons 75, 78, 79, and 81.

After Season 81’s impressive outing, Ateneo’s chances to finally win the seniors’ general championship were plausibly the highest in Season 82 as the University notched triumphant performances in men’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming, and women’s badminton. These championships, together with the overachievement of the Women’s Table Tennis Team’s (AWTTT) first-runner up finish and a near-podium finish by the women’s chess team, positioned Ateneo to make a run for the general championship. However, the premature ending of Season 82 due to the COVID-19 pandemic once again relegated Ateneo to third place with 162 points.

Dynasties and developments

A big factor in Ateneo’s improvements in its overall rankings is its dynasties in multiple sporting events such as women’s volleyball, men’s basketball, and men’s and women’s swimming. Since 2008, these three teams have garnered three, eight, and 13 gold medals, respectively.

However, on the opposite end of the spectrum lie programs that find themselves struggling. One such example is Ateneo’s chess program. In the past five seasons, the men’s team consistently finished at the bottom of the standings while the women’s team experienced a similar fate from Seasons 76 to 81. Likewise, the Men’s Table Tennis Team  has failed to secure a single team-tie victory from Seasons 75 to 80, with the women’s team also finding themselves finishing near the bottom during the last decade.

In pursuit of the general championship, points built from podium finishes can be nullified by shortcomings in other events. With this in mind, a university finishing consistently in the middle of the standings in all UAAP events has a bigger chance of winning the general championship.

“If you do the math, technically speaking, if you land third place in all events, there’s a high possibility of being [an] overall champion even without winning one championship,” said University Athletics Office (UAO) Director Em Fernandez.

A new plan of attack

With the goal of consistently finishing among the top four in each sport, Ateneo must revamp its athletic programs starting with the recruitment process. The AWTTT is a notable example of a successful recruitment program. After years of being cellar dwellers, the AWTTT extended their recruiting process to the junior high school level instead of simply recruiting graduating seniors. This shift eventually resulted in the team’s best finish in Season 82. By modeling future recruitment processes after the AWTTT, many athletic programs can also expect drastic improvements in their performances.

On top of a more rigorous recruitment process, Ateneo must also consider increased funding for its sports programs as this allows teams to procure and maintain high quality equipment. Procuring high quality equipment can potentially boost performance in both training and tournaments, thus highlighting the merits of an increased budget. In the case of table tennis, more equipment can be translated into replacing worn out paddles with higher quality ones.

“Ang dream ko na lang is hopefully magkaroon pa kami ng extra budget in terms of equipment (My dream is that hopefully we can acquire extra budget in terms of equipment,” expressed Table Tennis Program Director Ting Ledesma.

Another matter related to budgetary concerns is Ateneo’s participation in tournaments outside the UAAP. An increased budget could provide teams with  more opportunities to participate in other tournaments during the UAAP off-season. Gaining more exposure could help players hone their skills even further, thus setting them up for a more competitive bid come the UAAP season.

While matters such as budget and recruitment target the UAO’s systems, support can be also provided to student-athletes through academic adjustments by tweaking the academic load taken by student-athletes per semester. For athletes participating in first semester sports, the University can lighten their academic load during that semester while increasing their load in the second semester and vice versa for second semester sports. This allows athletes to have more time to train and prepare as their competition nears while also maintaining the sweet spot of academics and athletics that Ateneo prides itself in.

Nearing the capture 

While Ateneo continues to establish itself as a perennial contender for the UAAP Overall Championship, it is important that the University maintain winning cultures across all sports.

As such, the University must look into its recruitment processes by taking a special interest in scouting academically and athletically capable student-athletes as early as junior high school. With more recruits who fit into the Ateneo system, the University can turn its attention to increasing the funding for better equipment and sponsoring teams’ participation in tournaments outside the UAAP.

Finally, Ateneo should consider revising the student-athletes’ semestral academic load to allow for more training and preparation time without sacrificing academic competency. While Ateneo improves its athletic programs, the Blue Eagles near the perfect moment to finally capture the big fish.

Collage by Julia Carpio

Photos by Nate Bosano, Bruce Ong, Marco Ricafort, Joshua Tan, Kelly Veneracion, and Izza Zamoranos