12th Basketball Showdown Opens

Seven STI Colleges answered the call

The STI 12th Basketball Showdown went underway at the STI College Global City in Taguig as simple ceremonies were ushered in to open the event. This year, seven teams will battle in a one round format with the top four teams fighting over the finals slot. It will just be a winner take all affair for the championship. The new teams this year are STI College Caloocan and STI College Malolos with STI College Novaliches returning after a year of inactivity.

Ruzel Parala of STI College Santa Rosa

on the drive

Two time defending champion STI College Santa Rosa opened their bid for a third straight title with a 72 – 47 win over newcomer STI College Caloocan. Shooting guards Ruzzel Parala and Louise Bondoc carried the fight for the Laguna based cagers as the two shooters scattered 14 and 10 points respectively. Both teams started slowly as the defending champions raced to a 10 – 6 lead but later could not convert on their fastbreaks that made the Caloocan cagers come back and be at striking distance after one quarter 14 – 12. The defending champs eventually pushed on the pedal as they defended well and finally converted on their fastbreaks that put a little distance against the Caloocan team as the first half ended 33 – 22. The defending champs cruised the rest of the way to win a mile away 72 – 47. Patrick Navarro and Aljon Salangsang led the way for the fallen Caloocan team with 11 and 10 points respectively.

Alvin Detubio of STI College Malolos

squeezes one in

In the second game the Bulacan based STI College Malolos cagers unveiled their impeccable team work and running game to cruise past the STI College Novaliches team 80 – 53. Jovito Quetua 18 pts, Abram Pineda 15 pts, Alvin Detubio 13 pts and Jonathan Teraña 13 pts, led the balanced attack of the Malolos based cagers as the Novaliches team groped for form. Pineda started the ball rolling as he scored six points in transition to give the Bulakeños an early 19 - 9 lead. After the first quarter, Quetua attacked the inside while Detubio and Terana ran rings around their defenders to give the Malolos team a 41 – 23 lead by halftime. In the end the lead was so insurmountable that even the combined 34 points of Edison Tulipas, Mark Banda and Vincent Cuenca was not whittle down the 27 point lead.

Battle of the Big men

Villegas (Taft) vs. Ken Baquiran (Global City)

In the final game of the day, the STI College Global City dribblers eked out a hard earned 80 – 72 win against STI College Taft. Junior Olympian Jim Lontoc paced the Global City squad with 23 points but it was the two dagger three pointers by Edcel Lagrimas in the last two minutes that broke apart the close game which eventually went the way of the host school. The Taft five battled tooth and nail and only faltered in the final 2 minutes as their troika of Kenneth San Juan, Lloyd Cagampang and Mr. STI 2011 Jason Villegas proved to be hard to stop for the Global City squad. The two teams were tied after the first quarter, 20-all, tied again in the half 40-all and only two points apart 55 – 57 (Taft) after three quarters. San Juan led all scorers with 27 points on the strength of his six three pointers.

Be there when the action unfolds next Sunday at the STI College Global City Gym.

17th STI NYC IN MANILA

Monumental would be an understatement if one would describe the most attended Metro Manila version of the STI 17th National Youth Convention as the NYC was played with practically all sessions jampacked. Five years ago the total number of attendees of the NYC was 21,000 students. This week, the Metro Manila NYC totalled 21,416 the most ever.

After three years at the SMX Convention Center the 17th NYC in Metro Manila went back to its former home the Aliw Theatre in Pasay City. The curtains opened with ethereal voices of the STI College Global City Chorus singing the the song "Awit ng Paghahangad" which was a very apt Invocation Hymn. The 10 singers also sang the Philippine National Anthem in acapella.

Former NYC speaker and now Vice-President for Communications Elbert L. de Guzman started the ball rolling by welcoming the delegates to the venue. At the same time he asked the delegates to listen well and learn from the speakers who are at hand. Being a former speaker himself, Elbert kept the crowd alive by making them chant as the delegates answered his shout of "It's all about me" with a chant of "It's all about WE!" Elbert perked up the crowd even before the first speaker came out.

One of the most anticipated part of the Metro Manila National Youth Convention is the opening dance number of the NYC Dancers that ends up with yours truly joining them in the latter part of the dance. This year, my very reliable and loyal choreographer combined the "Moves like Jagger" dance music with the song "I'm sexy and I know it!" which was again a big hit for the STI delegates watching.

STI College Bacoor's Ricky Bunag has been with the NYC team the past few years and has joined me since 2003 when we still had convention for High School students. For him this Metro Manila run is special since this is his first time to be a speaker in front of his own STI Students. Ricky tackled the talk "It's all about Me, Myself and I: Self-Development.

On his second tour of duty, veteran trainer, book writer and inspirational speaker Pido Aguilar delivered a moving talk which is entitled "It's all about WE - Me and my Community!" The delegates will definitely remember his most telling advice saying that "We are not Pigs!"

There was a time in the early goings of the NYC that one of the staple names being waited upon was one of the best speakers of the NYC- AKR. He has since passed his legacy to Dennis Evangelista who has been a crowd favorite and a speaker who has made a lot of followers. This event will be something very memorable to him since days before the convention his father died and him still being a part of the convention shows his commitment to making STIers learn more. Dennis took on the topic "It's all about US - Making a difference!"

Another thing new about the event is the introduction of another partner of STI which is TAO PO! TAO PO is another way to become a changeneer and make the government work for us. One of the most vocal about the changes and a staunch advocate of Tao po is ABS-CBN Regional News Head Charie Villa. Charie led the registration proceedings to make sure that STIers become more proactive in making government work for us.

The 17th National Youth Convention, truly a one of a kind experience for every STIer, one that every STIer can be proud of being a part of.

STI COLLEGE OLYMPIANS PEP SQUAD NCC Qualifiers

The STI College Olympians Pep Squad's first step towards making it big has started by joining the qualifiers of the National Cheerleading Championships.

The task was simple, join and enjoy the competition. It was all about seeing what the NCC was all about and get to learn from all the different cheer leaders and cheer dancers who were on hand.

This is a great start for the STI Cheer Dancers who will use their experience to toughen themselves and prepare for next year. Above is a cut from the presentation of the Olympians of their monumental NAASCU performance.