Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 23) — After a year-long wait, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is keen on kicking off its 96th season by the first week of May.
Fr. Vic Calvo, OP, NCAA Management Committee chairman, announced on Tuesday that the country’s oldest collegiate sports league is determined to hold its special season despite the surge of COVID-19 cases in the country.
“Yes, we’ll be pushing through,” said Calvo of host school Letran during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) online forum.
But the league’s resumption will feature only a limited number of events through virtual platforms, with online chess and online poomsae as the current locked in sports.
“For sure, dalawa or apat na hybrid and online competitions ang hinahanda ng NCAA (the NCAA is preparing two or four hybrid and online competitions). On the safer side of things, we have chess because it’s online and it will be telecast with some modifications,” Calvo said.
“For taekwondo, we have poomsae and other online competitions in coordination with the Philippine Taekwondo Association since they volunteered their resources for this,” he added.
Basketball and volleyball, meanwhile, have also been included in the calendar of events, but is still pending approval from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging and Infectious Diseases (IATF), as contact sports remain prohibited in the amateur level.
If not permitted, Calvo said the NCAA is considering holding online challenges in lieu of the regular games, such as a slam dunk contest, three-point shootout, and skills and drills challenge, among others.
“We know that there’s no face-to-face so parang mag-aagree lang kami (it seems that we will agree) on how far can we do this. If we’re not allowed, then we go online,” explained Calvo.
“Creative naman tayo eh. Hindi tayo nag-gigive up because the NCAA embodies the Filipino resiliency and perseverance lalong lalo na sa sports. We’re doing things as much as possible na safe din dahil yung primary concern namin is the safety of the athletes and participants,” he said.
[Translation: We’re creative. We’re not giving up because the NCAA embodies the Filipino resiliency and perseverance especially in sports. We’re doing things as much as possible in a safe manner because our primary concern is the safety of the athletes and participants.]
To further assure their safety, Calvo says the league has already made arrangements for the vaccination of student-athletes and officials through Emilio Aguinaldo College, whose president is part owner of Unilab, and an authorized partner of Faberco Life Sciences Inc., distributor of the Covavax vaccine.
Last year, the NCAA considered staging its 96th season under a bubble set-up but after a thorough cost and risk analysis, the league opted to hold its events virtually due to the challenges brought by the pandemic.
