NCAA Management Committee Chairman Fr. Vic Calvo, OP announced the resumption of the oldest-running collegiate sports league in the Philippines, Monday, March 23. The series of competitions is said to start in the first week of May with limited sports to be performed online.

Calvo, from host school Colegio de San Juan de Letran, announced that NCAA 96 is bound to debut online with chess and poomsae. “For sure, dalawa or apat na hybrid and online competitions ang hinahanda ng NCAA,” he shared. Taekwondo will have poomsae and other online competitions in collaboration with the Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA).

However, basketball and volleyball have already been included in their calendar of events, but are still awaiting for the approval of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging and Infectious Diseases (IATF), since contact sports are prohibited on amateur level.

Calvo mentioned that if the contact sports are not approved, the NCAA will consider holding online challenges in line with the regular games, such as a slam dunk contest, a three-point shootout, and skills and drills challenges, to name a few.

“We know na there’s no face to face, so parang mag-a-agree lang kami on how far we can do this. If we’re not allowed, then we go online,” he explained.

“Creative naman tayo eh. Hindi tayo nag-gi-give up because the NCAA embodies the Filipino resiliency and perseverance, lalong-lalo na sa sports. We’re doing things as much as possible na safe [rin] dahil ‘yung primary concern namin is the safety of the athletes and participants," Calvo added.

To ensure the league’s safety, Calvo said the NCAA already made arrangements for the vaccination of student-athletes and officials through Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC), whose president, Dr. Jose Paulo C. Campos, is also a part-owner of Unilab, and an authorized partner of Faberco Life Sciences Inc., distributor of Covavax vaccine.