NCAA first semester sports events are almost over. With that, let’s take a look at Mapua Cardinals’ performance this season and in the last four season before that.

This season, Mapua is 4th place in basketball, 8th in beach volleyball, 2nd in cheerleading, 4th in chess, 3rd in swimming, and 6th in table tennis.

Here’s some hightlights from the past:

• Since winning our first basketball championship in 1949, the Mapua Cardinals bagged a total of 5 championsips—the last of these championships was won in 1991.
• The Mapua beach volleyball team have never won a championship since the sport was introduced in 2002.
• The Mapua Cheerping Cardinals holds only one cheerleading championships when they won it during NCAA’s first ever cheerdancing competition held in 2004.
• The Mapua Woodpushers holds the NCAA record for the most number of chess championships with a total of 11—the last of these championships was won in 2002.
• The Mapúa Tankers holds the NCAA record for the most number of swimming championships with a total of 40—the last of these championships was won in 1996.
• The Mapua Table Nettters holds a total of 3 championships—the last of these championships was won in 1996.

The Mapúa Cardinals holds the NCAA record for the most number of General Championsips with a total of 20—the last of these championships was won in 1993.

We’ve been at the top and right now we are nowhere near it. What are we going to do?

Every school wants to win. Every school wants to have a trophy. Every school wants fame and glory. Yet only few schools understand that, in order to, right pieces are needed to be put together; they need athletes that can deliver, they need effective programs to help them improve, and they need the right coach for guidance.

With all that said, here’s my personal thoughts to help improve our performance in the NCAA and to reclaim the General Championship.

Better academic program for athletes. By far, the most often neglected and the most important program every school should provide to their athletes is a good academic program.

Mapua use the quarterm system, that means the pace is much faster compared with other NCAA schools which use the semester system. Missing a class or two can leave you way behind. Most often than not, exam schedule overlaps competition schedule. It is much less-forgiving and, as a whole, more challenging for the student-athletes.

My good coach, Sir Divina, said to me that Mapua student-athletes are students first before an athlete. Mapua student-athletes aims to excel both in academics and sports. Excellence is one of Mapua’s core values after all.

So how can they excel? Let’s take a look at how student-athletes manage their time, how they balance academics and sports.
Let me ask you these questions, suppose you’re an athlete and you’re a top caliber player and you or your team have a great chance of winning a championship. What would you do more, hone your skills or academics? Or suppose there is a high paying professional league waiting for you when you perform exemplary well during your college years as an amateur athlete, what would you do more, hone your skills or academics? Conversely, if there is no professional league in your sports, what would you do? Would you still prefer to do more of sports than academics?

In an ideal world, we like student-athletes to put more amount of time and effort in academics than sports activities. Some actually do that while some put equal amount of time for both. But in reality, top caliber student-athletes will almost always put more time in honing their skills than academics.

Personally, I think that whatever path our athletes choose to take, our school should add more effort in providing athletes better academic program that will help them succeed in both sports and academics.

Implement a better recruitment program. To win a championship you need good players and to have good players you need to have a good a recruitment program. Few schools implement a good recruitment program and we can understand why, because it’s costly. Schools need to shell out more money for it because they need to send out more scouts in different places to look for potential student-athletes and more money to offer them scholarships, food, and boarding allowances among others.

In my opinion, Mapua has a decent recruitment program just not in all sports. I understand more money is needed to cover them all so I’m calling the alumni to help our athletes.

Provide effective training program. Even if the players are good they still need to improve. That’s the beauty of sports, there is a certain level of competitiveness at any one time and it is raised every now and then. By providing our athletes an effective training program, we’ll be more competitive, will have more wins, and eventually, championships.

Bring in a good coach. It doesn’t matter if it is a singles or a team competition, every athlete knows how important having a good coach is. A good coach knows how to use players effectively, knows how to train athletes for them to reach their full potential, and they know the right strategies to win the game.

Provide athletes proper nutritional diet. Proper diet, including carbohydrates and proteins intake are required for optimal athletic performance. Let’s help them by giving effective meal plan.

Raise school spirit. There’s a reason why cheer-leading was invented. Players needs to be cheered, they need to be motivated. Raising school spirit raises the player’s morale and it helps their performance during the game. Let the students, alumni, and faculty watch the games to show we support our athletes, win or lose.

To the second semester sports student-athletes (Football, Lawn Tennis, Track& Field, and Volleyball), good luck and God bless!

Alvin Patrimonio

Alvin Patrimonio played for the Mapúa Institute of Technology Cardinals in the NCAA from 1983 to 1986. He entered the PBA in 1988.

With Kelvin Dela Pena of Alaska Aces

Kelvin Dela Pena played for Mapua Cardinals from 2005 to 2008 before being selected as 15th overall pick in 2008 PBA Rookie Draft.

Although I am a Mapuan, I am not in favor for bad behavior.

]]> http://galwinfabian.com/2010/08/cardinals-suffer-a-second-straight-lose/feed/ 0 http://galwinfabian.com/2010/07/red-lions-edged-cardinals-69-64/ http://galwinfabian.com/2010/07/red-lions-edged-cardinals-69-64/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:55:15 +0000 Student Athlete http://galwinfabian.com/?p=1613 more »]]> The San Beda Red Lions won over the Intramuros-based Mapu Cardinals with a final score of 69-64.

The contest was close from the start of the first quarter until the end of regulation.

The Cardinals are now tied with Arellano University Chiefs and JRU Bombers in the 4th-6th place with 1-1 win-loss card. Meanwhile, the win gave the SBC Red Lions the first place with 3 wins and no lose.

NOTES: As it may seem, three teams are a lock in the final four leaving one spot open for the six teams to fill that up. Mapua is considered to get back to the elite 4 this year after a decent 6th place finish. Last Sunday, the Cardinals beat the Atlas with a score of 79-65.

The Lions clashed with the Cardinals at 2 P.M. after United States Ambassador Kristie Kenney graced the Association’s inaugurals as a guest speaker. Scoring 85 points against the Cardinals’ 52.

Riego Gamalinda and Sudan Daniel scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, to lead the Red Lions in season opener before jam packed Araneta Coliseum. Meanwhile, Mark Acosta and Paul Cinco of the Cardinals, scored with 10 points each.

“I felt a lot of pressure. I expect the next games to be more challenging. I need to step up my rebounding,” said Daniel, the six-foot-eight American rookie who is expected to replace last year’s MVP Sam Ekwe as the starting center.

Junel Baculi. Although he may not be as accomplished as the following players below during his career as a player, Baculi was the basketball coach of the Philippine national basketball teams which won the 1996 Champions Cup in Malaysia, the 1997 Champions Cup in Manila and the 2007 SEABA Games which makes him one of the better tacticians of the game.

Carlos Badion. Badion was a key member of the Philippine National Team, in 1956 Melbourne Olympics he and his teammates finished seventh (7th). His team won the gold medal in the 1958 Asian Games and 1960 FIBA Asia Championship. He was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 1960 Asian Basketball Confederation Championship and is a Philippine Basketball Hall of Fame awardee.

Atoy Co. Mapua Institute of Technology will always remember Atoy Co as the Fortune Rookie when he joined the team in 1970. After providing valuable minutes to Mapua in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) he played for Crispa in the PBA where he was selected nine times in the Mythical First Team Selection (1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984). Fortune Cookie improved his sharpshooting skills and was awarded the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)’s 1979 MVP.

Freddie Hubalde. During his years in the NCAA Freddie delivered for Mapua and was the NCAA’s 1973 Seniors Basketball MVP. In the Philippine Basketball Association, he was a member of the legendary Crispa Redmanizers. Eventually, Hubalde was awarded the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)’s MVP in 1977 .

Leo Isaac. Isaac was a Philippine Basketball Association player and coach of Mapua Cardinals senior basketball teams. Currently, he is the coach of the Arellano University Chiefs and the Barako Bulls of the PBA.

Alvin Patrimonio. Probably the best Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) player that wore the red-and-gold. Alvin was a four-time PBA MVP winning the award in 1991, 1993,1994 and 1997.

Bong Ramos. Member and top scorer of 1981 NCAA champion Mapua Cardinals. Former coach of the Indonesian national basketball team. Former Head coach of FedEX Express in the PBA. Former Head coach of Mapua Cardinals. Former assistant coach of Barangay Ginebra (PBA), former assistant coach of Talk n’ Text Phone Pals (PBA). Head coach of CLS Knights Surabaya Indonesia Basketball League (IBL)

Do you know? That Mapua is tied with UE for the most number of players in the Philippine Basketball Association’s 25 greatest players that were named at the league’s silver anniversary in 2000?  The Red-and-Gold members are Atoy Co, Freddie Hubalde and Alvin Patrimonio.

Isaac, who guided Mapua to a consecutive final four finish in his two season as bench tactician will now coach Barako Bulls of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), replacing Coach Yeng Guiao.

Mapua Tech Assistant Athletic Director Carlito Geronimo is very optimistic about Isaac’s replacement, Ercito Victolero.

Ercito Victolero was a point guard for the Cardinals from 1992 to 1996. After graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering in 1996, he shot hoops for the AMA Team in the Philippine Basketball Legue (PBL) as an amateur cager. His stint latyer on flourished, playing in the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBL) and PBA wherein he was also given the priviledge to be part of the Philippine National Team in 2000-2001. After his stint, he switched his gears to coaching, handling various teams including PBL’s San Mic Coffee and other collegiate and provincial squads. Victolero is also assisting Coach Koy Banal of Magnolia Pure Water in PBL.

Victolero’s plan is to balance the Cardinal’s offensive and defensive ends. Chito also wants to emphasize discipline and hard work, in and out of the court.

Coach Ercito works alongside fellow Mapuan Efren Garcia on defense, Mapua Red Robin’s head coach Randy Alcantara on offense, and Marlon Celiz in the squad’s physical conditioning.

What lies ahead for the Cardinals? With the absense of Neil Pascual, Ian Mazo and Alaska Aces’ Kelvin Dela Pen, Coach Chito Victolero is relying on the hands of fourth year veterans TG Guillermo, Mark Anthony Acosta and Paul Alexis Cinco to lead the team. Guillermon, the Cardinal’s new Team Captain, beleives in Coach Victolero’s coaching style. Vice Captain Acosta salutes their new mentor’s unique coaching techniques.