Hello, Hivers! Today, I’m gonna share to you my experience in Scuaa 2025. Last month, January 26 - 31 we had our SCUAA (State Colleges and Universities Athletic Association) this event was hosted by Cebu Normal University with 7 State Universities, CNU, BISU, PHILSCA, UP, NORSU, AND CTU and helded at Cebu Sports Complex.
This is my second time playing in Scuaa. Last year, we didn’t win the championship. We only made it to the semi-finals. Even though we didn’t win, I was still happy because I knew we did our best to fight against our opponents. Up is our opponent in the semi-finals and they’re really good. I knew we couldn’t beat them because we didn’t have enough time to practice. We didn’t have enough balls and equipments during our practice. We finished as 2nd runner-up last year, but We are still happy and thankful for the experience.
This year Scuaa, I have mixed feelings. I feel nervous, excited, happy, and pressured. Of course, who wouldn’t be nervous, excited, happy, and especially pressured. We didn’t expect that Cebu would host this year Scuaa, and the sports event is even at our school. So, who wouldn’t feel pressured? You expect a lot of people to watch, cheer, and expect us to win the championship. I’m even more pressured but also happy because my mom and dad will watch me play. And guess what? It’s there first time they’ll see me play since I started playing football as a kid. They’ve never seen me play before, so I’m really pressured. And also my girlfriend told me that she’s coming to watch too, so I’m super pressured HAHAHAHA.
Before the Scuaa opening, they made us stay one night at Ctu Main Campus . This was so all the athletes and the other schools with us could go together easily to the opening venue. We didn't expect that we would be sleeping in the Ctu Main Gym, at first, we were complaining because we were sleeping in there gym. But we didn't expect their gym to have an aircon . So, that night, their gym was getting colder because the aircon was really strong, and my blanket was super thin. The cold went right through my skin HAHAHAHA. And I didn't sleep well, and we woke up early because there was a Solidarity Meeting the next day, and it was held in the gym.
That morning, we quickly took showers, ate, and got ready for the opening. Before the opening, there was a Solidarity Meeting. The Captain and Coach are supposed to attend, but our Captain was in Siargao. So, since I'm the Vice Captain, I attended the meeting. While in the meeting, I couldn't focus much because I was still sleepy from not sleeping well because the aircon was too cold HAHAHA. After the meeting, the Captains and Coaches of each sports were gathered for a meeting about the rules and regulations. When we gathered, I felt really nervous and excited because I saw our opponents from last year. I was really excited to play and compete against them. Then we drew to see which bracket we were in. We got Bracket B, and our group in the bracket is Up and Bisu.
After the Solidarity Meeting, we went straight to the Cebu Sports Complex to attend the opening program. We had a lot of fun because while we were walking, we kept laughing because of our parade jerseys. Some of my teammates are big, and the parade jerseys didn't fit them. Also others could wear them but they were too tight HAHAHA. We walked a long way to the actual venue. I don't even know the name of the place where all the athletes started walking from because I'm not familiar with Cebu City HAHAHAHA. So, while we were walking, me and my teammates are talking and taking pictures. So, fast forward, we arrived at the venue. We were laughing because we don’t know our yell. After the opening program , we went straight to Ctu Main Gym to get our things and preparing to go to our venue, which is our school Ctu Danao Campus.
January 27 at 3 pm, we were scheduled to play against Bisu. Thank God! we got our first win against Bisu. Our score against them was 4-0. I didn’t score any goals in this game because my position is Defender. It’s expected that I won’t score any goals because I’m on defense. But Bisu was a strong team. We thought we might lose to them because they were very fast runners, good at kicking, and good at using their elbows HAHAHAHA. But it’s okay. We fought back even with the elbows because we don’t want to lose. Our goal is to be number 1 in our bracket HAHAHAHA. So, no matter what happens, we will fight.
On January 28, our game was at 1 pm, and it was super hot and our opponent, Up, were really strong too. I felt nervous but also excited because we really wanted to get back at them from last year’s Scuaa. We beat them in the group stage last year, but they beat us in the semi-finals. I’m going to brag a little here, but in last year’s semi-final game against Up, I scored the equalizer to bring the score from 3-0 to 3-3.
Here's what happened. The referee signaled that there were only 10 minutes left, my teammate and I decided to switch positions. I went to attack, and he took my place in defense. We got our first goal through a penalty kick. We didn’t celebrate because even though we scored, the score was only 3-1, and there wasn’t much time left. We didn’t give up, even there was only a little time left. We kept pressuring them, and if we had the ball, we would attack until we got a foul from them. I took the penalty, and guess what? I scored HAHAHA. I celebrated even though I knew we were probably going to lose. The referee signaled again that there were only 5 minutes left. We did the same thing and kept pressuring them until we got another foul near the keeper’s area. I took the free kick HAHAHAHA. When I kicked the free kick, it hit the opponent’s hand, and I signaled to the referee, “Hand ball, ref.” The referee just said, “Play on.” So I kicked the ball, and I scored again AHHAHAHA. I was so happy because I didn’t expect us to equalize the score with a little time left. We lost to them in the penalty shoot-out. But we were still happy and thankful because we knew we did everything we could to win, and we were happy with the result too.
For this match against Up, the crowd was huge, many people were watching our game, including my classmates, my mom and dad, our supporters from Danao, and especially my girlfriend hehe. Our game felt like a championship game it was so intense. No one wanted to let the other team score. It was really physical, it’s like 10% football and 90% using of elbows HAHAHAHA. That's how desperate our team was to not lose, and also many people expected us to win against Up.
The first half ended, and no one had scored. The worst part was that some of our teammates were really tired, and we didn't have good substitute players to replace them. Even I was tired, but I really wanted to win, and I also thought that no one could replace my position except me. So, I just endured it, even though I was tired. As Vice Captain, I had to show them that we could do it. When the second half started, Up got even more intense. They doubled their effort, but we were already exhausted. If the game in first half was intense, it’s even more intense in the second half because both teams desperate to win. Up was even more physical. They had a lot of attempts in the second half, almost all the second half attempts were theirs, but we blocked them. The game ended with the score of 0-0.
After the game, we went back to our quarters, and I brought my girlfriend there, hehe. I took a picture with the banner she made for me, and our friends helped her make it (how cute hehe). She's very supportive, even when I'm on the field, I can hear her voice.
That night, I went to sleep early because my body was so tired, and so were my teammates HAHAHAHA. But the muscle aches are worth it.
January 30, it’s the semifinals. Our team, is playing against the toughest team in Scuaa Football, which is Norsu. I’m really nervous, excited, and feel a lot of pressure because so many people are watching, especially my mom, dad, and my girlfriend are watching my game. The crowd really expects us to win this game and beat the strongest team in Scuaa Football.
The first half started, and as we expected, they immediately start putting pressure on us. They have amazing teamwork on the field. But we’re not giving up, we fight back, even though we know that we don’t have much stamina. I keep shouting on the field so that we don’t loss focus on the game. Ten minutes in the first half, Norsu scores a goal. We were shocked, but we didn’t lose hope because there’s still a lot of time left. We knew we could come back. After a while, my teammate and I switched positions. I started attacking, and he defended. I was so happy that our coach let me attack because I really wanted to score a goal against them. So we kept putting pressure on them, even though I was running out of stamina. After a lot of pressure and attacks, my teammate, who is also my cousin, scored a goal, we tied the game in the first half. Then, right before halftime, we scored again, I scored the goal, and my cousin assisted me. We have an amazing teamwork inside the field. When I scored, I celebrated so much (of course! Who wouldn’t celebrate scoring a goal, especially if it’s a winning goal). The first half ended with us leading 2-1.
Starting the second half, and the game got even more intense. Both teams really didn't want to lose. Even Norsu, who have won the championship 11 times in a row, really wanted to win. We decided to focus on defense and not let them score on us again. And we did it, we won with a score of 2-1. We were so happy because it's the first time in history that NORSU has been defeated, and we were the ones who beat them. For us, it feels like we're already the champions because we beat them.
After the semifinal game, I really saved my energy for the Finals. Also, in the game against Norsu, my left foot got injured and I had no choice but to play anyway, even though my foot hurt a lot.
January 31st, the Championship Game, the Finals! and guess who we're playing? It's Up, there were so many people come to watch our game, I am very nervous because it's the championship game and our first time playing in the finals. I felt really nervous and also excited.
The Finals started. It was intense in our last game against Up during the group stage, but the finals were even more intense, plus the added pressure of everyone expecting us to win the championship. Five minutes into the first half, we scored a goal we were so happy, but still nervous because there was so much time left and it was only the first half.
After that, Up put even more pressure on us. They were pressing us hard and making a lot of attempts. Our teammates started to relax because we had scored, so because of all their attempts they got a foul on us and a free kick close to our goal. They scored, and now it was a tie with the score of 1-1.
The first half ended. I didn't know what to feel. I talked to my teammates and told them there was still a lot of time left and we needed to score.
The second half started. Up was amazing. They were so fast and didn't get tired HAHAHA. We focused on defense until some of our teammates got tired. In the second half, there wasn't much time left, and UP scored on us. At that point, we knew we were going to lose, but we still didn't give up. We fought until the time ran out. And Up is the champion this year in Scuaa.
After the match, When I got back to my team, I couldn't stop myself from crying because we had tried so hard.
At the awarding ceremony, before they announced the champion, they announced the special awards. I didn't expect to be part of the special awards. They called out the Best Defender award first, and they called my name HAHAHA. I was so happy when they called my name because it's my first time getting an award in football. The rest of the awards went to Up players. We all took pictures, and I was the only one different in the picture because I'm the only one from CTU.
They even mispronounced my first name, but luckily my last name was correct, so no one doubted that I was the one getting the Best Defender Award HAHAHAHA.
That was my experience at Scuaa this year. The event were so unexpected because we never thought we couldn’t play in the Championship Game, despite our lack of time to practice and equipments. I also didn't expect to receive a Special Award. Next year SCUAA, we'll try hard to win the championship title and get to play in the SCUAA Nationals.
