BY ABBY TORALBA
ALL 18 teams from the NCAA and UAAP are out to prove their worth in the Shakey’s Super League kicking off this Saturday.
Backed by Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures, Inc. (SPAVI), the tourney will be staged at the historic Rizal Memorial Coliseum, the first event to be played at the RMC since the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
“Ecstatic kami. Deliriously happy. We have 18 top schools of the country,” Athletic Events and Sports Management, Inc. chairman Philip Ella Juico said last Saturday in the SSL press conference at the Philippine Sports Commission Hall.
According to Dr. Adrian Laurel, President and COO of ACES, the pre-season collegiate competition will be held every weekend and will run from eight to nine weeks.
“The reason (for that) is that we wanted to make sure that the student-athletes are able to concentrate on their studies and training during the weekdays and have an opportunity to play at a top-level during the weekends,” Laurel, who was joined in the launch by SPAVI President and CEO Vicente Gregorio, SPAVI General Manager Jorge Q. Concepcion, and Commission on Higher Education Sports Development head Ana Yangco.
The 18 squads will be divided into four groups in the preliminary round with the top two teams per pool advancing in the playoffs. After that, the top two teams will battle in the knockout semifinals for a chance to proceed to the winner-take-all championship match.
Pool A will be composed of Perpetual Help, San Beda University, Mapua University, University of the Philippines and University of the East, while Pool B has University of Santo Tomas, Adamson University, San Sebastian College, Lyceum, and Emilio Aguinaldo College.
Pool C will be bannered by defending UAAP champion National University, Ateneo, Jose Rizal University, and Arellano University. while Pool D features NCAA titlist College of St. Benilde, La Salle, Far Eastern University and Letran.
CSB coach Jerry Yee, who steered the Lady Blazers in their historic sweep in last season, told Malaya Business Insight that the league will be beneficial to expose the team with their five rookies.
“Ano tayo ngayon, (for) exposure sa mga bagong players,” Yee said. “We are letting them all play.”
