Cebu City ready to regain Cviraa crown
After losing last year’s Central Visayas Athletic Association (Cviraa) football crown for the first time in eight years, Cebu City coach Francis Ramirez is leaving no stone unturned for this year’s edition of the annual games set next week In Bohol.
“Last year we only had 10 days to prepare, this year we have been training for two to three months,” said Ramirez. Ramirez earned the right to coach Cebu City after his Abellana National School squad topped the Cebu City Olympics last year.
Prior to last year’s defeat, Cebu City held on to the Cviraa football crown for seven straight years.
“We were not able to pick up players last year also, since most of them were already on vacation, this year, we got reinforcements, so our team is really a Cebu City selection team,” Ramirez said.
The players Ramirez picked up for his team are midfielder RJ Sembrano, defender Timothy James Matteo and goalkeeper Paolo Pascual from Paref Springdale, Kyle Soriano and Jerome Batad from Don Bosco College and Michael Sharpe from Cebu International School.
“We have no problems in terms of bonding because the Springdale players were able to understand the system, while Sharpe had already played with us in Cagayan and the Don Bosco players are familiar with my players,” Ramirez said.
Aside from traditional powerhouse Negros Oriental and Dumaguete City, Cebu City will also have another problem to tackle in the Cviraa – the schedule.
With almost 20 teams in the high-school and elementary divisions, organizers will be hard pressed to conclude the games as one venue will only be used for both divisions.
“Last year we only had 10 days to prepare, this year we have been training for two to three months,” said Ramirez. Ramirez earned the right to coach Cebu City after his Abellana National School squad topped the Cebu City Olympics last year.
Prior to last year’s defeat, Cebu City held on to the Cviraa football crown for seven straight years.
“We were not able to pick up players last year also, since most of them were already on vacation, this year, we got reinforcements, so our team is really a Cebu City selection team,” Ramirez said.
The players Ramirez picked up for his team are midfielder RJ Sembrano, defender Timothy James Matteo and goalkeeper Paolo Pascual from Paref Springdale, Kyle Soriano and Jerome Batad from Don Bosco College and Michael Sharpe from Cebu International School.
“We have no problems in terms of bonding because the Springdale players were able to understand the system, while Sharpe had already played with us in Cagayan and the Don Bosco players are familiar with my players,” Ramirez said.
Aside from traditional powerhouse Negros Oriental and Dumaguete City, Cebu City will also have another problem to tackle in the Cviraa – the schedule.
With almost 20 teams in the high-school and elementary divisions, organizers will be hard pressed to conclude the games as one venue will only be used for both divisions.
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DBTC will be back this year, this time as Elementary City Olympics Champions, to try to avenge that loss. This is the same team that won this year the Milo Olympics, the City Olympics, the Aboitiz P12, the Boscolympics and the CIS P12 Cup. More than half of the players from the 2005 squad hopes to return home this time with the crown in their hands.
Care to verify this one Mike ?
the different district tournament champions will then compete in the city olympics to determine which team will form the core of the cebu city team that will represent the city in the CVRAA. the city olympic champion can pick up any player that is a bonafide student of any school based in the city - as long as that player is approved by DepEd.
the team can also pick up a total of two foreign players who are bonafide students of a cebu city school, again with the approval of DepEd. these two rules apply to Michael Sharpe.
got this clarification from a DepEd official.