For 48 days, the student-athletes of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) amazed, dazzled, and entertained during the Season 84 men’s basketball tournament.
It was a product of meticulous preparation not just from the UAAP, but all eight-member schools that mounted a bubble for their teams as the league staged the competition amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We can’t thank the schools enough for the sacrifices they made over the past five months. Not only did the bubble training of each school entail monetary costs but also time and effort all the participants.”
No COVID-19 cases were reported in the regular testing throughout the basketball tournament. Aside from the antigen testing, RT PCR tests were also conducted every two weeks.
The league is grateful to the student-athletes, coaches, and school officials who have made sacrifices and showed tremendous commitment to the UAAP’s efforts to restart the competition.
“We can’t thank the schools enough for the sacrifices they made over the past five months. Not only did the bubble training of each school entail monetary costs but also time and effort all the participants,” said UAAP executive director Rene “Rebo” Saguisag.
“Truly, it was an extraordinary tournament in an extraordinary time.”
It was definitely a tournament for the books, capped by an epic Game Three that pitted the University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University in front of 15,000 fans and decided by a three-pointer by Fighting Maroons guard JD Cagulangan, ending a 36-year wait for a title for the Diliman school.
The UAAP also expressed gratitude to the men and women who worked behind the scenes to make the tournament possible.
The UAAP also expressed gratitude for the guidance of Pasay City’s local government unit headed by Mayor Emily Calixto-Rubiano, the Commission on Higher Education led by Chairperson Prospero De Vera, and the management of the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Over 60 staff workers — from game officials, and support staff to the technical group — were also in a bubble throughout the tournament, making the trip from De La Salle’s Laguna campus to the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The UAAP also expressed gratitude for the guidance of Pasay City’s local government unit headed by Mayor Emily Calixto-Rubiano, the Commission on Higher Education led by Chairperson Prospero De Vera, and the management of the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“We at La Salle could not have done this without the sacrifices of our staff,” said UAAP Season 84 president Emmanuel Calanog. “It was a huge feat that would not have been made possible without the combined efforts of those on the ground. For that, we are forever grateful.”
