Wednesday, November 14, 2007 UC gears up for City Olympics ’07 By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE UNIVERSITY of Cebu collegiate squad hopes to make its presence felt in the Cebu City Olympics which starts this weekend at the Cebu City Sports Complex.
Though its high school team, which belongs to Unit 9 of the Cebu City Olympics, has constantly hogged the limelight and won every single overall title for its unit as far back as the 1990s, its collegiate team, however, which is made up of non-varsity players, has fallen short in taking the title last year after Cebu Doctors’ University edged them out by just one medal.
CDU will no longer be competing this year after it transferred to the Mandaue City Reclamation Area, leaving the overall title race open for anyone.
The college contest of the City Olympics only allows non-varsity players to compete and most of the participants are the winners of the schools’ respective intramurals.
Training
To prepare for the gargantuan task, UC took the winners of their intramurals under its wing and trained them with the coaches and trainers of the athletic department.
UC has been throwing its support to the team, giving them practice allowances even if they are not included in the UC athletic program.
“The school still gives them a little because they are, after all, still representing UC,” athletic director Bernard Ricablanca said.
Two schools
UC will be fielding in players in swimming, track and field, chess and table tennis. UC will be battling for the title over University of San Carlos, Salazar Institute of Technology, University of Southern Philippines Foundation, Southwestern University, Cebu Normal University, Velez College, Cebu Technical School, University of San Jose Recoletos and CSAT.
Meanwhile, the UC high school team, which forms the bulk of Unit 9, will be carrying the burden of defending the title after the unit was left with just two teams.
UC and Sacred Heart School Hijas de Jesus are the only two schools left in the unit as Sacred Heart School-Jesuit will be skipping the City Olympics after it also transferred to Mandaue.
Ricablanca, however, said that with UC at the helm, he is still confident of their chances of defending the title.
“We still have a strong team,” said Ricablanca.
The COlympics opens this Saturday at the Cebu City Sports Complex, which will be ushered in by a parade by the more than 5,000 athletes from all over the city.
