BAYBAY CITY, Leyte — The VSU delegation heads to Naval State University in Naval, Biliran for the Regional State Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (SCUAA) Meet 2016. Leading the pack is Dr. Aleli Villocino, VSU's Sports Director.
The first batch set off around 8 o’clock in the morning and the second batch is set to drive off around 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
There are 270 delegates, 206 of which are athletes along with the 36 coaches and assistant coaches. The rest of the VSU officials are also included in the total number.
Less Preparation Time?
The change in the school calendar also brought some changes in the preparation time of the athletes since the midterm examinations immediately followed after the intramural games.
When athletes were asked about the span of their training and preparedness for the meet, they said they had limited time.
“Gamay ra nga panahon. Ang policy sa amo as varsities, mas unahon ang academics kaysa sa sports. So, mao to amo gibuhat. Sa midterm week, wala mi practice, pahuway mi unya nag resume mi after na. Mas prepared mi last year kay nahulog man gud to siya og October unya sembreak mao to naka prepare mi og 1 week nga concentration before SCUAA,” said Analou Vestrillo, Volleyball women.
(Only for a short period. Our policy as varsities is to prioritize academics than sports. And that’s what we did. During midterm, we didn’t practice, we had a break, and resumed after. We are more prepared the previous year because it was October which means, sembreak so we had a chance to prepare for a one-week concentration before SCUAA. )
Another athlete Christopher Diego, Chess men, said that they only had a 2- day concentration unlike the previous year with a 1 week preparation. Though they have spared time for practice, time is still not enough for them.
Despite time constraints, they said that they will do their best to bring home the bacon this time.
The SCUAA meet is a 6-day event participated by the 11 SUCs in Region 8: Visayas State U, Eastern Visayas State U, Leyte Normal U, Naval State U, Eastern Samar State U, University of Eastern Philippines, North West Samar State U, Southern Leyte State U, Samar State U, University of the Philippines, and Palompon Institute of Technology.
Naval State University, the only state university in Biliran province, is the host of this year's games. Next year, VSU will host the games again, after hosting it in 2015.