CESAFI Season 20 Cancelled

CESAFI Season 20 Cancelled

It should’ve been the CESAFI’s 20^th season in 2020 and would’ve taken a “20-in-2020” tagline. But that’s not going to happen as the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Incorporated’s competitions for the year has been shelved. This was announced by CESAFI Commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy Jr. after consulting and getting the unanimous approval of the CESAFI’s board of trustees.

Tiukinhoy explained that the over-all health of the league was of primary concern for the decision, referring to the physical and financial aspects of the league. He bared that he made the recommendation based on three items: “the health of CESAFI’s student-athletes, students, fans and all those involved in the sports events, the financial health and liquidity of the member schools.” Called off also was the pre-season CESAFI Partner’s Cup for basketball, a tournament usually held from May to June.

Citing that the schools have been bleeding financially and are forecasted to see a drop of between 20%-30% in enrollment, Tiukinhoy said that the focus of the schools these days are on rolling out their online education programs and working on having students enroll for the coming school-year 2020-2021. “The only way we can continue to proceed with the events is for the schools to subsidize basketball and other sports events which is a burden to the schools at this time,” he shared.

As a consequence, schools have had to let go off their coaches and slash their sports programs. The contracts of majority of coaches were not renewed for the coming school-year, with only a handful retained. However, the welcome news is that majority of the scholarships of the student-athletes have been maintained by the schools. The downside to the season’s cancellation has been the transfer of key players of some teams to the UAAP and NCAA.

Meanwhile, the commissioner advised the student-athletes to train their sights on their academics and stay fit. “Each student athlete at this time should now focus on being a student to study,” he said.” “As an athlete, they have the obligation to stay fit and in shape by exercising and training individually.” Schools have now gone online for training, primarily for strength and conditioning. “There must be a regimen prepared by the coaches and trainers to be followed while the athletes are under quarantine,” said Tiukinhoy. 

Alternative activities have now been lined up for the school-year. A webinar on mental health was held on July 7 and a coaches leadership course will kick off in August. – Rico Navarro