College leagues form sports ‘super group’

PSC chair William Ramirez. Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

A unified collegiate athletic association is taking shape after representatives from major groups in the country arrived at a consensus on Thursday.

The summit, dubbed the National Consultative Meeting on Collegiate Sports, was initiated by the Philippine Sports Commission, which promised to fund their program.

“It was agreed to seek different organizations’ presidents to agree to vote, or assign a representative to vote, via letter,” said the PSC statement.

In November, the members will reconvene to “finalize the forming of the group, install the voting officers and then craft bylaws and guidelines,” said the statement. “They will also make initial plans and programs.”

PSC Chair Butch Ramirez said they would allot a substantial part of the P300-million budget of the Philippine Sports Institute for the proposed umbrella group.

Some 90 representatives of collegiate sports organizations—including major groups like UAAP, NCAA, Cesafi, NCRAA and Naascu—gathered for the two-day summit.

The main purpose was to create a governing body and streamline athletes’ recruitment from the grassroots.