Kuwentong Peyups Atbp. by Atty. Dennis Gorecho
Pep rallies are in full swing as member-schools of two premier collegiate sports tournaments – University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) – officially send off their student-athletes.
Pep rallies are vibrant, high-energy community celebrations to fuel school spirit and to support members of the teams.
The UAAP is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities, composed of University of the Philippines (UP), Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU), De La Salle University (DLSU), Far Eastern University (FEU), National University (NU), University of the East (UE), and University of Santo Tomas (UST).
The NCAA is composed of Arellano University (AU), Colegio de San Juan de Letran, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (CSB), Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC), José Rizal University (JRU), Lyceum of the Philippines University, Mapúa University, San Beda University, San Sebastian College–Recoletos, and University of Perpetual Help System DALTA.
Established in 1924, NCAA is the oldest collegiate athletic association in the country with its original members AdMU, De La Salle College, FEU, NU, San Beda, University of Manila, UP and UST.
UAAP was formed in 1938 when FEU, NU, UP, and UST left NCAA and became the original members of UAAP. Adamson and UE joined in 1952, followed by AdMU in 1978 and DLSU in 1986.
UAAP schools compete in 28 events from 15 sports to vie for the overall championship title.
First semester sports that run from August to December include athletics, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, cheer dance, chess, E-sports, football, judo, swimming, table tennis, and taekwondo.
Second semester sports from January to May include baseball, fencing, softball, street dance, tennis, volleyball, and 3×3 basketball.
The NCAA schools compete in 14 sports: basketball, soccer, poomsae, swimming, taekwondo, track and field, chess, tennis (lawn and soft), table tennis, badminton, volleyball, and beach volleyball.
Each UAAP school has its own monicker: Soaring Falcons for Adamson, Blue Eagles for Ateneo, Green Archers for DLSU, Tamaraws for FEU, Bulldogs for NU, Red Warriors for UE, Fighting Maroons for UP, and Growling Tigers for UST.
The theme for UAAP Season 89 is “For Everyone” hosted by FEU while NCAA Season 102 is “Strive. Believe. Unite” hosted by San Beda University.
UP earlier hosted UAAP 12 times for seasons 13 (1949–50), 16 (1953–54), 20 (1957–58), 26 (1963–64), 31 (1968–69), 36 (1973–74), 42 (1979–80), 46 (1983–84), 54 (1991–92), 62 (1999–2000), 71 (2008–09) 78 (2015–16) and 87 (2024-25).
In Season 1 (1938-39), UP bagged three championship titles: baseball, volleyball, and athletics.
UP was overall champion five times: Seasons 40 (1977–78), 41 (1978–79), 43 (1980–81), 45 (1982–83) and 60 (1997–98).
In badminton, UP was champion 15 times: 10 in women’s and 5 in men’s, which is the highest number of titles among the UAAP schools.
In baseball. UP was champion 11 times, the first during Season 1 (1938–39) and the last in 68 (2005–06).
In basketball, UP has 12 titles: 4 in men’s, 7 in women’s and 1 in boys’. UP was champion in men’s in Seasons 2 (1939), 49 (1986-87), 84 (2022) and 87 (2024).
In cheer dance, UP is ranked second with 8 titles, following NU with 9.
In chess, UP was champion thrice: once in men’s and twice in women’s.
In fencing, UP was champion six times: once in men’s and 5 in women’s.
In football, UP was champion 21 times: 20 in men’s and once in women’s. The latest is in the men’s for Season 88 (2025–26).
In Judo, UP was champion 17 times: 5 in men’s and 12 in women’s.
In softball, UP has 4 titles.
In street dance, UP ranked top one with 5 titles: 2013, 2015, 2016, 2025, and 2026.
In swimming, UP has 41 titles, considered as the “winningest” team: 17 in men’s and 22 in women’s collegiate level, while two in girls’ high school division.
In table tennis, UP has 8 titles: 2 in men’s and 6 in women’s.
In taekwondo, UP has 2 titles: one each for women’s and poomsae.
In tennis, UP was champion 6 times in men’s.
In track and field athletics, UP was champion 25 times, 21 in collegiate and 4 in high school.
In volleyball, UP has 12 titles: 4 in men’s and 8 in women’s. The last was in Season 45 (1982–83) in women’s.
For Season 88, the podium finishes of the UP Fighting Maroons are Gold for women’s swimming and men’s football; Silver for fencing, judo, lawn tennis and softball for women’s while badminton, basketball, judo, and lawn tennis for men’s; Bronze for men’s athletics and fencing along with women’s badminton.
A campus anecdote was that the varsity teams were once known as the UP Parrots. It was replaced with a new moniker that revived the old (circa 1920s) name Maroons along with the adjective “fighting” to describe the sportsmanship attitude that the UP varsity teams must possess during the games.
(𝑃𝑒𝑦𝑢𝑝𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠. 𝐴𝑡𝑡𝑦. 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝑅. 𝐺𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑎𝑓𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑟𝑠’ 𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑙𝑜 𝑉𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑧 𝐵𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑤 𝑂𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠, 𝑒-𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜@𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑧.𝑐𝑜𝑚, 𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 0908-8665786.)
