(This topic might be a bit out of place so I'm leaving it up to the mods to move it to the proper location.)

I'm simply wondering why the UAAP Board has seen fit to prevent Masteral students from playing in the league when they still have a year(/s) left of eligibility. Does this new rule cover student-athletes who take graduate studies and play for the same school that they graduated from? If this is a blanket prohibition, then it would have the effect of favoring students who do not graduate on time.

Most UAAP players are enrolled in 4-year courses. Oftentimes, their stay in their respective schools is extended to five years largely because of their commitments to the basketball team (no use denying that.) Occassionally, some students do graduate within four years, are below 25 years of age, and still have one or two years left of eligibility. With the new rule, it can not be denied these students, who exercised a little more diligence in their studies than their colleagues, are being treated unfairly.

I've observed that no one else seems to be bothered by this new rule. I must have missed something. Could someone please enlighten me? Thanks.

mangtsito, my understanding of this rule is that only players who enter a university as masteral students cannot play. Hence, we are not bothered by this rule because it does not preclude JC Intal, Chris Tiu or any of our other current undergrad players from going on to take graduate studies in Ateneo to play out their eligibility.

The rule seems to discourage UAAP schools from taking in older, stronger and more experienced athletes (e.g., DLSU taking in Jerwin Gaco) to give themselves a competitive edge, and instead give the aspirants in their current student body a better shot at suiting up for their school.

I think this thread is better off in the college sports forum. Will move it in a bit.

Mangtsito,

I think the rule is in place due to the efforts of some whining UAAP schools who shall, for our purposes, remain unnamed. According to them, this rule will help level the playing field for the benefit of schools who do not have the budget to scour the country for graduating college students with some eligibility remaining under UAAP rules.

Of course, a kid can still transfer to a UAAP school as an undergrad, do his residency, and then play. I wonder if even this window will close as well.

Personally, I also think the rule in question is stupid. I also think the two year residency rule for Fil-Foreigners is stupid. Those windows of opportunity for masteral and Fil-for athletes were in there for a purpose. Closing those windows does more harm than good, and lowers the standard of competition our athletes are exposed to. Remember that the UAAP produces national athletes as well, for sports other than basketball, such as Track and Field, Swimming, Badminton, etc. Hopefully, this will not lead to the future decline of the league in particular, and Filipino sports in general.

i think this new policy is highly discriminatory because it essentially narrows down the criteria for athletic representation. another thing: hugot na kung hugot, but these players won't be grad students if they didn't earn their bachelors' degrees, di ba? it's like they're sending the wrong message one way or another.

in my opinion, instead of clamping down on graduate athletes, the UAAP board would do considerably better if they impose stricter measures to address the plummeting graduation rates of athletes, especially basketball players. doing so would have dovetailed with CHED's current crusade of auditing basketball programs not only in the UAAP but throughout the alphabet soup of collegiate athletics organizations in the country.

to be perfectly fair, sneaking a del rosario or a tadeo into your lineup long after his college days are through (or should have been through) is every bit as anomalous as the gaco case. the intent of the rule appears to be to force schools to compete with more true freshmen and legitimate four-year and five-year students, which seems justifiable enough. i can see teams which can't keep up in the recruitment wars supporting this ruling. let's call it a case of the have-nots trying to get even with the haves. that's a fact of life and we might as well get used to it.

we can take comfort in the fact that we do have our share of other anomalies - like the occasional player who completes his studies in four years (think jet nieto giving up year five eligibility to go to med school) or leaving for a season to study abroad (chris tiu). it's a minority i kind of like being in.

to encourage people to take up their second, or third, undergraduate degrees. which, in my opinion, gives a "BS" degree an entirely different meaning.

the people who came up with this rule probably have no clue whatsoever how ingenious people can be.

Carrot,

If I'm not mistaken. This applies to all students taking their MBA. Hence, players like Chris Tiu will either have to purposely drop subjects or take up a second degree.

I think this rule was meant to level the field for those UAAP schools which do not offer MBA degrees.

Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken.

ghost, the latest interpretation says otherwise. to date, those who are no longer qualified are the mika vainio/mike gavino types who play out their remaining years of eligibility in universities where they didn't earn their bachelors' degrees. actually, the interpretation has been swinging from one extreme to a more moderate stance, depending on the mood of the UST board representative to the UAAP. why, you may ask? kasi UST ang may pasimuno nitong bagong patakaran!

Thanks for the replies.

I do wish some UAAP insider would reproduce in this thread the actual provision that contains the ban on masteral students. If the provision is clear enough, there might not be any room (nor any need) for any interpretation.

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The notion that schools unable keep up with the recruitment wars are even-ing things up for themselves is one I'm uncomfortable with. What's next? Lifestyle checks on college basketball players?

The only thing I'd like really clarified soon is whether or not it's a blanket prohibition ("No masteral students, EVER, FOREVER AND EVER.") or allowing masteral students to play for the same school that they graduated from.

While a blanket prohibition may encourage schools to find recruits that are better and nurture them for four years, it also means a student who does a 4-year program must be forced to take a second undergrad degree which they will probably drop anyway once they've used up their eligibility. If so, why not just say that maximum number of eligible playing years is 4, unless the student is taking a five-year program (that being the only case that allows 5 playing years)?

The other solution (see above) seems like a decent compromise. It at least offers players a choice of whether or not they will play for a fifth year.

I really don't see why the UAAP is so hellbent on imposing all of these ridiculous rules on residency, grad students, etc-etc. I agree with Cubao: what the Board should do instead is to go along the lines of CHED to scrutinize the graduation rates of varsity athletes in ALL UAAP schools. Call me too idealistic or old-fashioned, but for an athelte to compete in a collegiate league he must first be a student. And to be a student you have to maintain certain academic standards i.e. make the grade and QPI (I believe most if not all UAAP schools have some form of QPI standards now, my beloved UE kicks students out because of QPI now although I don't think this applies to athletes...)

I further agree with Cubao that the UAAP Board - a collection of leadership of the so-called top schools of the country - is sending the wrong message with this manner of "leveling of the playing field". Peking made a very valid point: the have-not's trying to gain some measure of payback on the have's, and this is what bothers me the most. If the other schools would only upgrade their ACADEMIC standards ahead of their goddam varsity recruitment, then maybe they'd not only entice top recruits but better students overall. After all, Ateneo being what it is, even top student athletes sometimes balk at matriculating here because they don't think they belong in the "shit conyo" environs of Loyola Heights. Now there's an opening other schools can exploit!

As a former teacher and grad student, I think its already quite a handful to be a graduate student and a basketball player. Anybody who does this would most likely create problems with how people view graduate courses in the Ateneo. The easiest ADMU grad course would probably be part-time MBA studies taking 3-6 units at a time. I wouldn't know the applicable rules, though.

My take: let the lasallites cheapen themselves with their business franchise approach to academics and sports. The ADMU I know is better than that.

true, it's not for all. but for those blue eagles who have been successful in balancing the demands of graduate work and basketball, dapat silang kahangaan. kaya saludo ako kina magnum at bajjie.

Saludo din ako kay Aileen Grajales, who is hellbent on finishing her grad degree even though she isn't on the Lady Eagles anymore.

At magalit ng magagalit, hanga din ako kay Jerwin Gaco.

I think this is simply because schools have repeatedly abused this rule as a gateway for strengthening their teams.

Starting with Gaco for La Salle, Gavino and Vanio for UP, Custodio for UE. I believe that this does not sit well with other UAAP schools who have not tasted success for a long time or seeing their title bids derailed by this migration of graduate students. And of course, who can forget the highly publicized supposedly transfer of BJ Manalo.

Which brings us to the question: Why penalize players who really DO want to get a grad degree and ex-deal it by playing on the varsity? Kawawa naman ang mga gaya nina Aileen at Jerwin, na totoo namang nagpursigi sa pag-aaral AT sa paglalaro. Kasalanan ba ng Ateneo na magandang grad programs natin at enganyong-enganyo ang ibang tao na mag-MA sa atin in exchange for being a varsity player? Para kasing chemo ang ginawa ng UAAP Board i.e. to get rid of the bas they are more than willing to also get rid of the good...

Unfortunately, it's very difficult to judge whether or not a particular student is sincere in pursuing a masters degree. But I would agree with the idea that a presumption of good faith must be made in favor of the student.

And besides, siguro naman sa kahit anong eskwela, pag masters degree na ang pinag-uusapan, mas seryoso ang magiging admissions process.

Assuming that Saldua is only in his first year of a 2-year Masters program (and he is thus legitimately enrolled in FEU at this time), will he be ineligible to play in the UAAP next season under the Masters Rule?

I'm not sure if this is what some of the schools are thinking. It could hurt the integrity of a school's graduate studies program if some of its students aren't really serious about their academic participation. Undergrad programs consist mainly of class attendance and exams. It's supposed to be different in grad school where participation is 2-way. Grad students are supposed to make their own contribution in the form of research and student-faculty collaboration. It's gonna be awkward if some of the students need to be tutored or provided some other kind of "assistance" to get by with their studies.

Akala ko basta master's degree student, bawal na maglaro next season... ano ba talaga? Ang gulo ng UAAP.

And I still stand behind my idea of just bringing the NCAA and the UAAP together again to create a bigger pool of teams to compete with each other and to provide a clean slate to start a new and better system to run the collective athletics programs of the schools. Everybody wins. Maganda sana kung parang NCAA ng US tayo.

Gaco: Kasi yun ang binigay sa akin ng La Salle...

(When asked why he chose a certain course in the mentioned "educational institution".)

Off topic pero para lang mabigay ko ang opinyon ko. Mahusay nga kung mas malaking liga ang mayroon tayo sa Pilipinas. Pero malabong mangyari ito sa mga susunod na taon. Tinging ko ay sariwa pa sa mga opisyal ng mga paaralan ang rambulan at away noon sa NCAA kaya't hindi sila papayag na pag-isahin kung may botohan mang mangyayari.

Just to put things into perspective... hopefully someone can enlighten us.


1. For example, if a player graduates from high school in 1999, he will still be eligible to play until 2006, unless of course he has used up 5 playing years?

2. Will the ban on graduate (masteral) students exclude players who graduated with a bachelor's degree in the same university?

3. Does the ban cover all UAAP sports?

It really depends on whether or not the new rule is retroactive.

If it is, then all masteral students will not be allowed to play.

If it's not, then the rule will be selective in its application and will not apply to those masteral students who played for their teams this year with the league's assurance that they can play for another year.