ONE of Cebu’s biggest public schools will now have an alumni league as the Abellana National School Alumni Basketball League (ANSABL) Season 1 officially opens on Feb. 3 at the Cebu City Sports Institute.
What started as a basketball gathering in 2017 for alumni basketball enthusiasts has turned into a league with 17 teams from different batches in the year 2000s and 1990s.
“This is not a one-time league. We are looking to do this annually, hopefully the other alumni can read this and be informed about this league,” commissioner Ariel Arcilla Estarte said in Cebuano during a press conference at the school’s alumni office last Saturday night.
In the inaugural season, there are nine teams from the 2000s and eight from the 1990s.
Assistant commissioner Vincent Hughie, who handles statistics for various basketball leagues in Cebu, said the school’s alumni looked at a bigger picture for this sporting event on top of the camaraderie.
“What I observe when I handle alumni leagues is that they give back to the school. As for our league, we are planning to give back to the student-athletes of the school. Hopefully, the alumni office can give support to them through this event because we know the struggle of the public school athletes,” said Hughie.
Hughie said they are also calling the alumni from other batches to support the league by organizing their teams.
“We want to start something here for the alumni and also for the current and future students who love to play basketball,” he said.
The participating teams will play a single-round robin format with the top four teams advancing to the semis. The finals will be a best-of-three series. There will be a separate champion in the 1990s and 2000s division.
The league will also have an All-Star Game, and will award trophies to the Most Valuable Player and Mythical Five.
The organizers admit that there are challenges in organizing this league and one of that is finding a regular venue for the games that will be held on Saturdays and Sundays.
“Right now, we will be playing at the sports institute, but it’s not yet a regular schedule for us. As this league grows, we hope to find an official venue for the league and we are working on that,” said Estarte. (RSC)