Team AHS 85: A Defining Moment!
   By Hubert B. Guevara

This year’s Ateneo University homecoming event will be hosted by AHS Batch 85. As a kickoff event, a team was hastily formed to bring every interested batchmate together in one venue – the basketball court. Thus Team AHS 85 was borne.

Tired, retired, scarred by previous court battles, side-lined by more pressing priorities, members of Team AHS 85, composed of different representatives of all sections in its batch, decided to answer a call of duty. It was an opportunity no one could simply pass up.

Acknowledging their personal limitations and inhibitions, the members of Team AHS 85 shrugged the dust off their jerseys and suited up for this year’s ABL season to make a run for the first Verona Division’s coveted plum – “the best 40 years old and above team.”

As expected, Team AHS 85 started slow in its games. The shots were taken with a lot of eagerness, the balls were rebounded with breathless determination and the fouls were given with more deliberateness although projected to be untintentional. Despite these, the camaraderie, belongingness, high-fives and tap at the back assurance of “good-work” reminiscent of the past has brought a lot of joy and pride to each of the players on the team.

Team AHS 85 has embarked on a journey that no one expected could be possible. The course for its maiden voyage has already been determined and set. It was a one-way ticket regardless of the outcome. Each player understands what this team meant and why it was formed. This is the reason why Team AHS 85 will ensure that this ABL season will be its defining moment.

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MIB: Our lessons come from the journey not the destination
   By Ritz Chu and Luigi Yambao

The Management Engineering Association opened the 2010 season of the MEA Inter-Batch (MIB) sports tournament last September 18, 2009. The tournament featured 17 teams divided among three divisions – 4 teams in the Men’s Competitive Division, 9 teams in the Men’s Recreational Division, and 4 teams in the Women’s Division.

This season, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Management Engineering program, gathered in one of the largest number of participants in MIB’s history – 214 players. The inclusion of MIB in the Ateneo Basketball League (ABL) lineup gave rise to fierce competition as the presence of professional statisticians fueled the drive of every player. With accurate stats regularly uploaded and the prestige of winning MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, or being part of the Mythical 5 loomed over each player’s heads and gave an extra ounce of courage to each drive towards the rim.

The finals was held last February 6 at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center with three teams going above the rest – a freshman team, Hot Rod, took the gold in the Men’s Competitive Division; a senior team, T2 BBE, won in the Men’s Recreational Division; and a sophomore team, Kp, reigned over the Women’s Division.

Basketball provides us ME students a respite from the rigors of the academe. In the words of the greatest basketball player, Michael Jordan, “basketball makes us believe that we can ‘fly’ even for a while.” It brings us closer through fun competition away from the pressure attributed to the numbers expected of us ME majors. Flying above pressure and into a haven where what links us together is the love for the game, basketball helps us realize that talent may win a game, numbers may bring individual glory, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships and that elusive dream that lies at the end of the road.

This past season, the theme constant in the games is the heart and the teamwork of each club. There were eventual winners and losers but the greatest victories they gained were not marked by W’s in the score sheet but by a capital L for the lessons learned in their journeys together as a team.

MIB wishes to thank the ABL for all the help and support it has given in making our 2010 basketball season a successful one!

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AHS Basketball Org: New Kid on the Block

As the Ateneo Basketball League (ABL) celebrates its 10th year anniversary as a league, the Ateneo High School Basketball Org is also celebrating a milestone as it formally joined the ABL family starting the 2010 season as a new division.

Mr. Carlo P. Carlon, the long-time moderator of the org, initiated the move to join the ABL inspired by the successful integration of the employee’s division tournament, the Principal’s Cup 2 years earlier and the AHS Basketball Intramurals Program last year. The AHS-ABL tournament will serve as a culminating activity for the members of the org where they will have the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned from their Wednesday org sessions.

The AHS Basketball Org is composed of 93 members. They were divided into 6 teams composed of 15 players per team. The tournament started in January 6, 2010 and will run through February 17, 2010.

Inspired by the positive reaction by the org members, the AHS Basketball Org hopes to continue this partnership with the ABL as it enter another decade of fostering camaraderie and school spirit throughout the whole basketball-loving Ateneo community.

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Team Bengzon: Reflections from the War Zone
   By Jem Bengzon

When my nephew Javie suggested that we put together a team made up of Bengzons this ABL season, my brothers and I jumped at the chance to all play together again. It’s been decades since we’d played as a team, and while we’ve been to the UAAP games as Barangay Bengzon, being in the ABL provides us a chance to bond again in the game that’s brought us together countless times.

It’s been nice to rediscover Bengzon basketball by playing it again. For those who are unfamiliar with Bengzon basketball, let’s just say we regard the court as a war zone (as Javie aptly describes it), where quarter is neither asked nor given, where you can play only if you leave everything out on the floor, where the vanquished leaves the court bloodied but unbowed and where the winner definitely will have to earn the victory. It’s about defense and hard work, intense, in-your-face, noisy, and not terribly artistic; in fact, WWF/UFC or the 1980’s Houston Rockets/Moses Malone version of ugly ball comes to mind. And it’s also about many of life’s important lessons, those about teamwork, standing up for yourself and your teammates, a never-say-die spirit, using your head and wits, and turning your limitations into strengths.

Over the years, basketball for our family has been our sanctuary, our sacred bonding place, as it has been for many families. With TEAM BENGZON in this ABL season, basketball has also become our touchstone for nostalgia, that magical place where we return to things that have stayed the same despite the passage of time. The slightest facial twitch is the same all-too-familiar sign that Mikey is going to get into the head of another opponent (as he always does). When Jay asks for a pick, we automatically know whether he wants it at the elbow or on the baseline because we know it’s for an old familiar move that we pull out from our minds’ archives. And while we all know what to do without talking about it too much (or perhaps despite too much talking in the huddle, since we all grew from players into coaches), sometimes the best moves come from the exchange of simple knowing looks, when we know exactly what’s coming next, albeit in slower motion.

It’s in the trenches of this war zone where we brothers were bonded for life, and it’s where there is the unique opportunity for me to be bonded with my son as well. While our family’s always been very close, there’s no doubt basketball played and still plays an important part in our bonding. It’s our vehicle of passing on knowledge and life’s lessons to our younger generation, whether in the context of play or watching the UAAP games. It’s our way of looking out for each other. These are the things I remember most about playing with my brothers. And uniquely, TEAM BENGZON in the ABL presents an opportunity to show that in action, amidst the tangy smell of muscle ointment, the chill of ice for aching joints, and the dispensation of free medical advise (in hilarious contrast to the comforts of popcorn, hotdogs and Starbucks coffee during the UAAP season).

For me this year, this year takes on an extra special meaning when us fathers get the rare opportunity to play alongside their sons, as we have that in multiples in our team. When we see Jan coach Javie and Digo, we hear behind the instructions the added dimensions of fatherly motivation and advise. Basketball in the ABL now provides me with an opportunity to show my son Jake not only how to play the game, but most especially how to conduct himself in life. It gives a chance for me to show Jake that the way we play are is really about life’s important values put into action on the court, in the context of the environment where I learned the most – on the court, beside my brothers, and my relatives, and alongside my son, all proudly wearing “Ateneo” across our chests, in blue and white.

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ABL 2010 PREVIEW
   by Jun Dalandan

The ABL should be celebrating two important milestones this year.

One will be its first major anniversary as this marks the 10th year of the league. The second milestone should be the number of teams breaking the 300-team mark. As of press time, ABL 2010 had 273 confirmed teams in 45 divisions with only the status of the AHS Intramurals not yet finalized. Assuming all sections participate, the final number of teams and divisions will be 330 and 49 respectively.

The alumni division still accounts for the most teams and divisions. This year, there will be 148 teams in 22 divisions. Both numbers represent new highs for the alumni sector.

Over the last few seasons, all high school and college batches from the early to the mid-80s has had at least one team participating. Prior to this season, three AHS batches, AHS 1997, 1998, and 2001 were able to organize a division of teams whose core of players came mostly from one high school batch that had already graduated from college. This year, three new batches, AHS 2000, AHS 2003, and AHS 2004 have duplicated that feat. For AHS 2003 and 2004, this will be the second time their batches have come together since they did so for the first time during their senior years in college.

Proving that the ABL is for alumni of all ages, the Verona Division has drawn 6 teams made up of players who will be 40 years and above in 2010. AHS 1985 will become the third team after teams O’Brien and Alcantara to field a team of batchmates during their silver jubilee year.

After averaging 150-175 participants over the last few years, the Ateneo High School has drawn over 230 participants playing in 21 teams in 3 divisions this year. With 85+ participants, the AHS 2009-2010 1st year high school batch easily passed the record for the most number of students from any current high school batch.

Last year, this year’s Ateneo High School Freshman batch established the most participants in a grade school batch when as grade 7 students, they had 50+ participants. This year, the Grade 4 and 7 batches have duplicated that feat and could even reach 60+ participants before the season starts. All in all, there will be 24 teams in 5 divisions.

Two new tournaments have joined the ABL family this year. From the college, the MEA Inter-Batch (MIB) will have 17 teams in three divisions, one of which is a women’s division. The AHS Basketball Club will be fielding 6 teams made up of Ateneo High School students. As in the previous years, there will still be divisions for college students (26 teams, 4 divisions), the Ateneo Law School (8 teams), the Ateneo employees (12 teams, 3 divisions), Ateneo women (5 teams), and parents of current Ateneo students (6 students).

As the ABL enters its second decade, it will continue to strive to achieve its goal of fostering camaraderie and school spirit throughout the entire Ateneo community.

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