Varsity blues for S.Y. 2010-2011

By Jenny S. de Venecia

It is not all fame and honor for the varsity teams of St. Scholastica’s College (SSC), for behind the spotlight the squads undergo different setbacks that has been repeating itself every year.

Last March 21, the school held its 105^th commencement exercises at the school field. Along with the graduation of fourth year students, comes the problem of varsity teams as they also bid farewell to their valued players who had become the foundation of their squads.

Replacing the old players that have already graduated is the main goal of the varsity teams for the next school year. It has become a practice for them to hold their try-outs every June to fill in the missing spot in their teams.

“Siyempre malungkot pero may recruit kasi kaming bago, papasok ng St. Scho, incoming first year” (I feel sad, of course but we have new recruits, incoming first year that will enroll at St. Scho), according to Geli Angeles, a varsity member of SSC’s Badminton team.

Aside from holding the annual try-outs, the teams will also be facing the lack of training equipment this coming school year. “The main problem is ‘yung kakulangan sa equipments, may tendency kasi na nagkakawalaan ng gamit” (The main problem is the lack of equipment, there is a tendency of misplacing some gears), said Roychelle Domingo, a member of the Taekwondo team. “’Yung equipments kasi basic need during training” (The equipment is our basic need during training), she also added.

The lack of facilities has also been a problem for the Badminton team. According to Geli, their squad has been having problems regarding the venue of their weekly training. “’Yung venue for training, nag-aagawan lahat ng team” (All teams scramble for the venue for training). As a result, the team rents outside the school to be able to continue with their training.

Another problem that arises from the lack of training venue is the school’s budget for each varsity team. Each squad has a designated budget every school year, which includes the payment for their fares during training and competition. However, the allotted budget is not enough to maintain the needs of the varsity. “Two sets uniform libre tapos jacket kami nagbabayad. Pero yung budget pang-training like ‘yung shuttle and rent sa Rizal for court laging kapos” (We get two sets of uniforms for free than we pay for our jacket. However, the budget for training like the shuttle and rent for court at Rizal is not enough), said Geli.

These problems surrounding the varsity squads have been left unnoticed by the school. Nevertheless, they continue to bring pride and joy to SSC in every tournament they join.