THE HISTORY OF A.A.X.S.
BOWLING
by Bonner Dytoc ('86)
as told to Kenneth Yu ('86)
To
some of you Xavier alumni, especially the younger ones, it may feel like the
game of bowling has been an active part of the Alumni Association for the
longest time, that it's been there all the while every season for many, many
years now.
In reality, it has been with us for, well, just about
eight years only.
TWO SPORTS ONLY
Back in the mid-1990's, I thought about how the only
sports that ever seemed to get any kind of attention, participation, and
sponsorship from the alumni were basketball and golf.
Let's take a look at basketball. Year after year the
XABL (Xavier Alumni Basketball League) attracts so many teams from all the
batches. Young, old, and all those in the middle, most batches if not all have
at one time or another participated in this yearly league. Each year these teams
fight it out for the XABL championship as if it were a PBA conference, with the
games sometimes getting so competitive that the players show more fire than even
some PBA professionals do! I think it's a safe enough statement for me to make
that basketball is the #1 favorite sport among the Xavier alumni, which
generally reflects its popularity among Filipinos from all ages and all social
classes.
And then there's golf. This sport garnered such high interest with the alumni probably sometime in the late 1980's or early 1990's. This coincided with golf's burgeoning popularity worldwide, enhanced in the mid-1990's by Tiger Wood's turning pro and winning his first Masters tournament. This game stopped being an old, white-man's, uncool sport and overnight became hip for everybody to play, including Xavier alumni. Soon, there were Xavier Alumni Tournaments sprouting up every year in golf courses more than an hour-and-a-half outside Metro Manila. That there exists many participants willing to take the time to make such a trek, and who are equally willing to spend four-and-a-half hours (or more) playing the game, is a testament to the attraction it has for Xavier alumni.
I like the idea of any sport that gathers Xavier
alumni together in healthy and friendly competition. The basketball and golf
tournaments foster unity among the different batches because it provides a forum
where young and old alumni can interact and get to know each other on a regular
basis and on a larger than normal scale. This, I believe, is the reason why
sports events should be held regularly by the AAXS, and this is the reason why
sports plays an important part in alumni development.
But I felt that for so many years now, the AAXS
sports-wise has just been about basketball and golf. Surely there are many
alumni who play basketball and golf, and who play it very well. But what about
those who don't?
Like me.