Big adjustments in eligibility policies will be made after organizers cancelled the games of the 83rd University Athletic Association of the Philippines.
With season 84 expected to start in the third quarter of the year 2021, the league will reconsider the status of its student-athletes, and the playing years that they still have left.
“We will discuss this soon,” said executive director, Atty. Rene Saguisag Jr., who added that season 83 is set to end on May 31 of the coming year.
In the next season, there will be many student athletes who will miss two years of competition.
League officials were not able to continue with the staging of season 83 because of the ongoing restrictions imposed by the government to mitigate the effects of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
With season 83 over, student athletes playing in the first semester will miss one full year of eligibility.
For those seeing action in the second semester, the board will need to evaluate their status since they will miss two playing years.
The situation will be tricky for one-and-done rookies, those who were recruited and will just play for one year.
More evaluation will be needed on this since most of these athletes are enrolled in their member school’s master’s degree programs.
According to current league rules, “a student-athlete from a non-member school who is pursuing graduate studies in a member school shall not be subject to residency requirements.”
In men’s basketball, there will be at least five players who are affected.
Among them is Far Eastern University’s Emman Ojuola, a transferee from Naga College Foundation and University of the Philippines’ Sam Dowd, who came from of Idaho State.