University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 84 executives announced several changes including the inclusion of I-WantTFC and developments in schedules on the collegiate league for the return of the women’s volleyball tournament last May 1 in the Mall of Asia Arena.

Just as the UAAP men’s basketball tournament is close to an end, the commencement of the women’s volleyball tournament will proceed after two years since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

During the men’s basketball tournament, the UAAP is streaming on numerous platforms through OneSports, Cignal TV, CignalPlay, UAAP Varsity Channel, and Smart GIGA Play. This time around, a welcome development opened a window for additional changes that will help in reaching people all over the world through I-WantTFC.

“Starting May 4, I am happy to announce that we’ve included one more platform for our international viewers. So the UAAP will be available on I-WantTFC,” Cignal TV Chief Revenue Officer Guido Xavier Zaballero said.

Additional programming time was allotted for the UAAP so both televised sporting events’ schedules wouldn't clash with each other.

“So, the basketball tournament will move over to a Wednesday-Friday-Sunday schedule and will be moving over to TV5, so volleyball will take over Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday at OneSports,” UAAP President Emmanuel Calanog shared.

Asked what changes will be seen in the upcoming women’s volleyball tournament, the executive board of UAAP was keen on maintaining the arrangement of what they did with the basketball tourney.

“So, whatever you see on basketball, we will be carrying over to volleyball just to make sure that we continue to protect our players…We want to provide an atmosphere that is safe for our student-athletes,” Calanog added.

The return of the volleyball tournament

The first few games of the tournament will be clear as mud, yet Far Eastern University (FEU) women’s volleyball Head Coach George Pascua remained optimistic and enthusiastic because the training that they’ve had will now come to fruition. Although being puzzled by their opponents will be as evident in the upcoming matches.

“Wala kami idea kung sino ang core [ng] team nila…Sa system at adjustments (We have no idea who will be the core of the other teams… In their system and adjustments),” FEU Head Coach George Pascua said.

He then added, “we’re so excited… Hopefully lahat ng mga players makapagperform [ng maayos] (hopefully all the players can perform well) mga coaches din — kayong lahat para mas competitive ang magiging result ng tournament natin (the coaches too — all of you to make the result of our tournament more competitive).

The traditional rivalry between the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigresses and FEU Lady Tamaraws will headstart the tourney on May 5 at 10 AM at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

- Adrian Earl E. Taruc 

(Photo by Juan Pablo Parian/FEU Advocate)