THE GROWLING Tigers have a new courtside reporter and she’s none other than the Varsitarian’s own, Special Reports editor Kristelle Ann Batchelor.
This 18-year-old, half-Puerto Rican, half-Filipina stunner replaces former beauty queen and model Tina Marasigan, who reported from the sidelines for the Tigers the last two years.
Batchelor admitted she had big shoes to fill, but was confident she would deliver and make the UST community proud.
“I feel the pressure because she (Marasigan) was our courtside reporter for the last two UAAP seasons and she was one of the best,” said Batchelor, a third-year journalism student. “(But) step by step, I’m slowly getting the hang of the sport.”
Batchelor was picked following a stringent, three-step screening process involving more than a hundred aspirants last summer.
Last June 19 came the formal announcement that she was among the four new courtside reporters this season, along with Mich del Carmen (Adamson University), Ina Ongsiako (De La Salle University), and Tricia Robredo (National University)
Completing the cast were old-timers Selena Dagdag (Ateneo De Manila University), Bea Fabregas (University of the Philippines), Katz Salao (University of the East), and Judy Saril (Far Eastern University).
“It was surreal,” Batchelor said. “I never expected that I would be chosen. After the organizers told me the good news, there was a feeling of self-fulfillment and at last, a new career was there for me to take.”
Batchelor auditioned for the Yahoo! College Hoops Courtsider last year, but failed to make the cut.
She took the setback as a challenge and pushed herself to try her luck in ABS-CBN Sports.
“I was not accepted [as a Yahoo! College Hoops Courtsider] so I aimed for greater heights,” Batchelor said.
“It led me to auditioning for the UAAP and fortunately, I was chosen to represent UST.”
Besides the challenge posed by high expectations, she also has to juggle her school work and editorial duties with her UAAP reporting.
But for someone used to beating deadlines, the new job shouldn’t be too difficult. Hedrix Ar-Ar C. Caballe
