NAMED as the Basketball Player of the Year in the recently held Collegiate Press Corps Awards, Ateneo de Manila University’s Thirdy Ravena said the latest accolade only serves to inspire him to be better come next season where he will play his final year with the Blue Eagles.
A key component in Ateneo’s back-to-back championships, Ravena joined now-pros Mac Belo, Jeron Teng, Robert Bolick, and his brother Kiefer, as winners of the coveted award.
“It’s a great feeling to be recognized, especially for an award like this. All the hard work paid off. But in all honesty, I owe this all to my teammates, also the hardworking coaching staff of our team. We’ve come this far because of them,” said Ravena after receiving his award in ceremonies held at the Amelie Hotel Manila.
“This is only serves to inspire me more. As they say, nothing beats exiting college as a winner. I really want to take full advantage of my collegiate career. Hopefully we get to be in a position to compete for the title once again,” he added even as he said he was dedicating the award to his family, friends and supporters who have been part of his journey.
Apart from winning basketball player of the year, Ravena was also part of the All-Collegiate Team, along with San Beda’s Bolick, Perpetual Help’s Prince Eze, and the University of the Philippines’ Bright Akhuetie and Paul Desiderio.
For the first time as well in the history of the Awards, volleyball stars were feted with University of Santo Tomas’ Sisi Rondina and Arellano University’s Regine Arocha sharing honors for volleyball players of the year.
Rondina was recognized following a spectacular final year in beach and indoor volleyball in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.
She won most valuable player awards in beach and indoor volleyball and took the Golden Tigresses to within one win away from claiming another UAAP title in nine years.
Arocha, for her part, was a key player in Arellano’s back-to-back National Collegiate Athletic Association titles. She also won finals MVP.
Other awardees were the five peat-winning National University women’s basketball team (Award of Excellence), UP men’s basketball team (Special citation for its Cinderella run in Season 81), San Beda’s Boyet Fernandez and Tab Baldwin as coaches of the year for the NCAA and UAAP, Ateneo’s Angelo Kouame and San Beda’s Javee Mocon (Pivotal Players) and Lyceum’s CJ Perez and Adamson’s Sean Manganti (Impact Players).
The annual Collegiate Press Corps Awards was hosted by the Collegiate Press Corps, made up of print and online media covering the UAAP and NCAA.
It was presented by SportsVision and supported by Chooks-to-Go, Amelie Hotel Manila, Rain or Shine, NorthPort, World Balance, Arellano University and AXA Team Eds. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
