“Lahat ng sports affected. Kasama kami sa nabawasan ng scholarship,” Coach Amatov Canlas said after the disbandment of his girls’ fencing team.

Following the disbandment of the team are also the chess, taekwondo, softball, and high school judo teams, and as well as its weightlifting club.

Also, student-athletes were ripped off of scholarships; 14 players in softball, 17 students in chess, and almost 20 from the Red Jins.

And even the UE chess head coach Perzeus Orozco finds it hard to cope in these trying times that he can only hope for the best for the student-athletes.

“No words can express how sad I am. Iyong nakita ko parang bumagsak lahat ng pangarap nila, mas doble ang sakit sa akin kasi wala ako magawa sa situation,” he shared.

“Kahit kasi ako po nawalan ng bread and butter. Kaya financially, ‘di ko din sila ma-support. In fact, ilang gabi na ako di makatulog sa sobrang sakit para sa mga players ko, lalo na yung totally walang kakayahan magbayad ng tuition fee and dahil sa nangyari eh titigil na lang sa pagaaral.”

On the other hand, sports programs are doing their best to help the student like fundraisers set up by the Chess team and asking for donations for the UE softball team, the weightlifting club as well as the UE judokas.

Meanwhile, the student council of UE conducted virtual forums with the student-athletes following the situation of the disbanded several sports teams and removal of athletic scholarships.

“Kailangan mapakinggan ng mas mabuti ang ating mga atleta. We made a group with them at sa meeting, gusto namin mag-unite in strengthening the initiatives na ginawa ng athletes at kung sakali, makapagtulungan din tayo to do more actions that would help them,” USC President Raymond Raph Cayabyab said.