The University of Cebu’s athletic program is paying off more than the school could ever dream of, and the rest of the Cebu schools—no, correction—the rest of the schools in the Philippines can only drool.
Yeah, I know, some of the UAAP and NCAA products are proud of their schools but you don’t see them wearing their school shirts when they get their Southeast Asian Games (Seag) medals or during the PBA draft. (If they did, I stand corrected.)
There’s something about how UC, or perhaps Augusto Go, takes care of its athletes that even after they’ve left the school, they’d love to wear the school colors when they have achieved something great.
Who can forget June Mar Fajardo, proudly wearing the yellow UC shirt during the PBA draft in 2012 when he got picked as the No. 1?
What could top that? Or who could top that?
Enter weightlifter Elreen Ann Ando, who donned her UC shirt, while displaying her silver medal during the Southeast Asian Games in 2019.
A few days after her Seag stint, she visited Go and got a handsome P100,000 reward for her feat. She also said that she would be aiming for the Olympics next.
“We will help with her training to get that goal,” Go said.
Eighteen months later, it’s mission accomplished as the 22-year-old was awarded one of the continental spots for Asia in Tokyo, where she will be competing in the 64-kilo division. I know the Olympics is very strict when it comes to “messaging” or what the athletes can wear, but I hope that won’t prevent her from wearing the UC colors on stage if she wanted to.
I mean, can you just imagine that? Seeing a Cebu school’s colors displayed on the sporting world’s biggest stage? That’s an image that would last generations!
Ando’s classmates, decades from now, will probably be showing their grand kids that picture and telling them, “I know her.”
At 22, she hasn’t reached her peak and if she continues improving, she’s good for another Olympiad or two. Just look at Hidilyn Diaz. She made her first Summer Games in 2008, but it was in Rio that she finally got her breakthrough. She will be aiming for a gold medal in her fourth straight Olympiad.
I hope Ando will follow the same story line, because that will inspire others to follow Ando’s story line.