With the second half of the UAAP already in play, more venues have been introduced such as the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion, Philippine Sports Complex, FEU Diliman Football Field, and the Filoil Flying V Centre. There are also venues from the first half’s games that are still being used in the second round such as the Rizal Memorial Stadium and the Mall of Asia Arena. The LaSallian continues to look at these venues with views from the eyes of spectators and the athletes themselves.
Rizal Memorial Sports Complex & FEU Diliman Football Field
The sports complex located along Pablo Ocampo St. holds different sporting venues for the UAAP. This time around, the venues for the second half are the Baseball and Football Stadium, as well as the Tennis Courts. Samantha Nicole Turingan, a spectator, shares that the Baseball Stadium is an appropriate venue for both sports but thinks that it needs maintenance since the seats are always dirty and that the paint is starting to chip off, making the stadium look unattractive as a whole. She also takes note of how it gets quite hot sometimes as the sun hits the audience and thinks that there should be more shade around the area.
The Tennis Courts, on the other hand, have various courts for the players to practice and compete, having four teams play on two separate courts during the tournament proper. Bianca Hilado, another spectator, says that the venue can really get hot depending on the weather and that the seats are limited. “Hassle bumaba at umakyat sa seats kasi crowded minsan.”
(It’s hassle to go up and down because it’s crowded sometimes.)
Lastly for the Sports Complex, the Football Stadium is home to the Men and Women’s Football team. Midfielder Marcus Garcia of the Men’s Football team gives the venue positive feedback, saying that the stadium is one of the best fields he has played at because of its great competitive atmosphere. He also says that he experiences comfort rather than difficulty playing on the field during the tournament since their trainings have always been held there.
As for FEU Diliman or FEU FERN College, the venue is located at Sampaguita Ave., Mapayapa Village, in Diliman Quezon City. It was a venue for one of the games of the football teams this season and in the previous one as well. Unlike the Football Stadium in Rizal, Garcia shares that although it is a decent field to play on compared to others in Manila, it doesn’t really have much of a competitive atmosphere. With regards to the difficulty of playing inside the venue, he says that it is tougher to play on the field due to the unevenness and improper maintenance of the pitch.
Philippine Sports Complex (ULTRA)
The Philippine Institute of Sports Complex—formerly known as ULTRA Sports Center is located in Meralco Avenue in Pasig. This is where all events for Fencing and Track and Field were held. For the Green and Lady Fencers, they played their games inside the Fencing Hall while the Green and Lady Tracksters had their competition at the Football and Athletics Stadium. Angel Cariño of the DLSU Lady Tracksters shares her experience with the Athletics field saying that it has the best track oval in the Philippines after having experienced running in the said venue for more than five years.
Won Suk Cho, co-captain of the Green Fencers, comments on how the venue was hot and how he had hoped that the place would include additional aircons to make the place colder than before. However, “I would say playing there was ok, nevertheless the venue does not really matter when we play, [it’s] the skillset.”
Lady Fencers co-captain Pat Eusebio also shares the sentiments as Cho regarding the issue with the aircon of the Fencing Hall.
“However, it would get really hot during the afternoon when there are more people inside the small venue,” she says. “It was difficult to move around our area and at times there wouldn’t be enough chairs. Because we’re all sharing a small space, we’d often mix our things up or even lose them.”
She also explains how the team felt when they discovered that fencing tournament was to be held in the Fencing Hall which was where they practiced in preparation for the contest. “[For] the Green and Lady [Fencers], it was a bit comforting to know that it would be held at the fencing hall, having trained there almost every day, it feels like home.”
Mall of Asia Arena & Filoil Flying V Centre
The DLSU Green Spikers and Lady Spikers play their games in two places: Mall of Asia Arena—also known as MOA Arena which is located in the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay and the FilOil Flying V Centre that was based in Col. Bonny Serrano Ave in San Juan. Green Spiker Raymark Woo recalls his experience with the venue saying that both areas were generally alright and that the only problem that he encountered was that he sensed discomfort during the practices of the team before the game because it was exceptionally cold as a result of the aircon situated around the setting.
UST Quadricentennial Pavilion
Finally, the University of Santo Tomas Quadricentennial Pavilion—originally called the UST Sports Complex holds the DLSU Chess teams’ matches. The gym is located inside the campus of the University of Santo Tomas, España Blvd., Sampaloc, Manila. It is positioned at the site of the former old Engineering Complex and adjacent football field in front of the Roque Ruaño Building. Bernadette Galas, team Captain of the Lady Woodpushers, describes the environment of the gymnasium as highly comfortable and that the lights were great. However, she did struggle going to the comfort room coming from the playing area where the matches were being played.
