Banned coach appeals for fairness

AFTER several years of coaching the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) collegiate men’s team and helping the team raise its level of competence in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation (Cesafi) tournament, coach Cecil Jotojot is now on the outside looking in.

Jotojot was among the four coaches slapped with a lifetime ban for walking out in the Cesafi volleyball semifinals last year.

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And after months of waiting, Jotojot finally got the memo from his school president about his lifetime ban.

He plans to appeal the decision.

“Unfair kaayo sa among side because we were not given the opportunity to air our side. They based their decision on an incident report without giving us due process,” Jotojot said.

He added they waited for the memo for a long time because they wanted to appeal to the Cesafi board to reconsider their decision.

Jotojot said there should have been a fact-finding committee formed to come up with a fair judgment.

“There should have been an investigation before they came up with a decision. My life is in volleyball. This is where I find fulfillment,” said Jotojot.

Not there

The coach attended the opening ceremony of the Cesafi volleyball yesterday but stayed
at the sidelines.

He said he questions the decision to include him in the punishment because he was not present when the three teams walked out.

That walkout was the team’s protest against Cesafi’s decision to allow a University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) player, whose residency was under question, to play.

Jotojot said his players are willing to execute an affidavit to state what happened that time and who really triggered the walkout.

USPF vice president for administration Jun Jereza said he will support Jotojot in his move to clear his name and wants him back as the school’s coach.

Pending that, Joerem Yu will be the head coach for the USPF men’s collegiate team, one which even their rival USJ-R considers to be the strongest this year.