Billiards League draws 19 schools

The quest for a new breed of cue artists intensifies when the National Collegiate Billiards League, or B-League, begins on Nov. 20 at the Ocean Park at the Rizal Park.

Aiming to bring billiards out of smoke-filled halls and into mainstream acceptance, the NCBL will feature players from at least 19 of the country’s leading schools, including Ateneo and La Salle.

Formed by billiards enthusiasts and with the support of various firms, the B-League will run up to March next year.

Leading the way for the NCBL are Reli de Leon, one of the pioneer PBA player agents and event organizer, and Perry Mariano, founder of the Billiards Managers and Players Association, who are the league’s president and vice president, respectively.

“We’ve invited schools to participate,” said De Leon. “We want to bring kids who are good in billiards but are out of school back to the classroom as athletic scholars. We want to develop new billiards heroes.”

Mariano said the B-League has taken the cudgels for the sport to ensure a new generation of billiards stars takes over when the likes of Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante finally call it quits.

“The rising stars of other countries are in their teens,” said Mariano, head of Bugsy Promotions that manages the likes of former world champion Ronnie Alcano, Dennis Orcollo and Roberto Gomez.

“We need to develop a new breed of stars to keep our dominance in the sport.”

Apart from Ateneo and La Salle, also competing are St. Benilde, New Era, St. Claire, Centro Escolar U, University of Manila, Fatima, Letran, University of Santo Tomas, San Sebastian, University of the East, Far Eastern U, Don Bosco Mandaluyong, Lyceum, Marist, University of the Philippines, Jose Rizal U and Mapua.

After the inaugurals, games will be held every Saturday and Sunday at the Star Billiards Center on Araneta Avenue, Quezon City.

Teams can field five players each in the juniors (18-below) and seniors (23-below) divisions in the best-of-five matches.