Continuing recruitment woes doom Tigersharks’ legacy

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FAILING to recruit top talents appears to be sinking UST’s title hopes in the UAAP swimming competition.

Despite a combined 63 titles, UST’s swimming program has settled for runner-up finishes.

The Tigersharks have won only two individual gold medals combined in both divisions since 2012.

This year, both teams settled for fourth anew behind Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines, and the De La Salle University.

The Tigersharks and Female Tigersharks last won the championship in 2008.

Head coach Cyrus Alcantara said poor recruitment remains as the top reason behind their mediocre showing in the past seasons.

“As a coach I want to recruit strong players but I can only offer what the University offers to student-athletes, a good education and school pride. Apparently, it barely works anymore,” he said in an interview with the Varsitarian.

The 14-year head coach said other universities invest in cars or house to offer their swimmers, things that UST does not do to lure athletes.

Subpar recruitment leaves Alcantara has no option but to settle for players who are far behind the talents of other competing schools.

“In swimming, it takes two to three years before a potential player becomes at least a decent swimmer and we have been dealing with that for the past years,” he said.

Alcantara also faces the inability of some of his wards to balance academic loads with their daily training.

“Despite reaching their best times in the pool, it is evident that some of my players are having difficulty placing their focus in the training because some are enrolled in time-demanding programs like science courses and architecture,” he said.

The tactician said the Tigershark’s comeback to the top spot would have to wait for years as La Salle, Ateneo and the National University have raised the bar in the recruitment wars.

Homegrown talents leaving

Aside from recruitment woes, Alcantara said the lack of loyalty among his junior squads is also a problem he hopes to solve in the future.

“I had a swimmer before in the juniors’ team who was lured by another university with a brand new car as part of the offer. I cannot match that offer, UST will never do that because it is not within the University policies,” he said.

This year, UST lost Skyler Claveria and Francis and Alvin Marquez who all left the squad for personal reasons. Alcantara hopes that the players in UST’s boys team, which ended Ateneo’s 11-year reign, and the girls team, which won two titles in the last three years, will continue to play for UST in the collegiate level.

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