By Cyrus A. Natividad

On Tuesday, April 11, 2023, teams representing academic departments of Central Philippine University (CPU) participated in an early morning parade on campus. Dressed in sports uniforms, the participants walked to the University gymnasium, impressing everyone with their enthusiasm. This marked the opening of the Centralian Sports Fest, an inter-departmental sports competition initiated by the CPU Student Republic (CPUR) and scheduled to take place from April 11 to 19, 2023.

Marc Hermel G. Agriam, OIC, Office of Sports and Athletics said, “This holistic event aims to cover for the lost sports activities that could have been enjoyed by the students during the pandemic period of two years.” On the other hand he said, “This could be a preparation for new schedules of activities to come with the University Day – a change of school calendar with which the Intramurals and U-Day conform to the University Foundation Day celebrations in October.” Agriam added that, “There are plans to return to the normal start of classes in the month of June, making the summer period return to what it used to be –from the months of April to May.”

Athletes represent their departments at the opening of the Centralian Sports Fest.

In an interview by the Centralian Link (Weekly publication of the Office of Communications), Agriam added that, “Sports is a big factor that promote preference to students. CPU’s performance in local, regional and national sports events are looked upon by the young people to be a good influence in their education and training. The outcome of sports is a big help for CPU in terms of promotion and recruitment.”