AFTER the athletic and physical contests, it’s now time for a contest of different skills sets as the 2016-2017 season of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc.Academic and Cultural contest kicks off at the University of Southern Philippines Foundation on Jan. 9.
Known primarily as a sports league, the Cesafi is more than that and unlike the UAAP, NCAA of Manila, and even its predecessor, the CAAA, the association has held academic and cultural contests through the years.
And for this year, it is something the sports league want the students of each member schools to know. That the league is not just a sports league.
“These academic contests are even more competitive than the sports events,” said Rico Navarro, the deputy commissioner who speaks from experience being the athletic director of the Sacred Heart School Ateneo de Cebu.
And with the academic athletes or ad-thletes not enjoying any scholarships unlke their athletic counterparts, Navarro said, “This is the purest and unadulterated form of ‘competing for the sake of school spirit.'”
This year’s edition will have 17 events, including five new ones—cooking competition, balak, Cebuano/Visayan rap, Neo-ethnic dance and hip-hop.
The other events are oration, impromptu, delamation, math and science quiz, computer quiz, spelling contest, essay writing, vocal solo, duet, soduko and a contest on current events and general info.
“Most of the schools field entries in the academic contests. In fact, schools like Velez, which did not join any sports events, join a lot of academic and cultural contests,” said Cesafi commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy.
