WITH COVID-19 conditions steadily improving and the National Capital Region under Alert Level 2, the much-awaited Season 97 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association will unfold with four sports — two actual and two virtual — next month, according to Stephen Fernandez, athletic director of Season 97 host College of St. Benilde.
“The live events will be men’s basketball and women’s volleyball while we will also have online chess and taekwondo,” Fernandez said, adding the NCAA Management Committee and GMA Network will make the formal announcement of the league’s opening soon.
He said the NCAA Management Committee is eyeing two venues for the staging of the basketball and volleyball tournaments, leaving it also to the body to make the announcement.
Hosted by Letran, NCAA Season 96 was held virtually last year with online competitions in basketball, a skills event, chess, and taekwondo being conducted and broadcast by GMA, which signed a contract to cover the games.
With Arellano University as the host, NCAA Season 95 was suspended by the NCAA Mancom on March 19, 2020 due to the league’s concern for the safety and health of its athletes and coaches as COVID-19 cases in the country swelled and became a full-blown pandemic.
It marked the first time since 1962 that the country’s oldest collegiate league was forced to call of its season prematurely.
Fernandez said the Blazers, under new coach Charles Tiu, began quartering at the new CSB Sports Complex and Athletes Dorm last week and are expected to begin training and holding scrimmages immediately.
“We inaugurated the CSB Sports Complex and Athletes Dorm in early 2020 but it has hardly been used because of the lockdown. Ngayon lang talaga magagamit,” Fernandez said of the multi-story building that has an indoor pool, modern fitness and conditioning gym and other facilities.
