A STUDENT athlete playing for the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) can now avail himself of insurance in case of injury during the tournament.
This was announced by Cesafi commissioner Felix “Boy” Tiukinhoy Jr. on Wednesday’s press conference at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel, through the league’s partnership with the UCPB Gen Insurance.
“The basketball, volleyball and football players are insured for P100,000 from our insurance partner,” he said.
He added that if a team plays in another tournament but asks permission from the Cesafi for permission, then the players will still be covered during those games.
For the fans, on the other hand, Cesafi will be more visible this season as they fully embraced a digital approach through live stream and television broadcasts.
The Cesafi Live team, composed of 133 volunteer students from various colleges and universities of Cebu, will be responsible for social media broadcast of games.
Cesafi will be visible on Facebook, Twitter and on its partner websites. The delayed telecast of the games can also be viewed on SkyCable Channel 45.
“This is the first in history in any college league that there are volunteer students who covered games,” beamed Tiukinhoy.
On his part, Cesafi president Bernard Villamor, an engineer by profession, asks for understanding and support from the fans on the broadcast of the student volunteers.
“The Cesafi Live coverage is not just bringing the games to home viewers it is also a form of development. We develop the volunteer students to be more knowledgeable by the time they finish volunteering,” said Villamor. “I hope the fans will understand that these are students doing the live.”
“We want to ignite the school spirit. Hopefully, our presence in social media can bring the fans to the venue,” Villamor said when asked what needs to be done to increase the fan base.
The 2019 Cesafi season will officially open on Aug. 31, 2019 with the men’s and boys’ basketball tournament serving as the curtain-opener at the Cebu Coliseum. The other events will open in September.
The other sports to be contested in Cesafi are lawn tennis, table tennis, karatedo, badminton, football, athletics, scrabble, taekwondo, chess, swimming, dance sports, beach volleyball, futsal and weightlifting. The academic competitions are hip-hop, vocal solo, current events and general info, math quiz, science quiz, spelling contest, vocal duet, essay writing, declamation, Sudoku, oration, impromptu and balak or sangka sa pamulong. The demonstration events will be eskrima, patintero and e-sports. (RSC)