National University is ready to make history as the UAAP collegiate women’s football division expands to six teams for Season 89.
The Lady Bulldogs will join four-time defending champion Far Eastern University, perennial contender De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, Ateneo de Manila University, and University of the Philippines in a six-team race for the crown.
After spending the past year building its program from the ground up, NU is finally set to take the field, with veteran Laguna-based mentor Ryan Payson leading the Lady Bulldogs into their much-awaited collegiate debut.
Despite entering a field full of more experienced opponents, Payson believes his team is ready to compete from the get-go.
“We will try our best to be on par with everyone,” said Payson. “Yeah, we are very excited to be here and very thankful also.”
Starting a collegiate program from scratch is no small task, particularly in an ultra-competitive league like the UAAP. It requires considerable time, resources, and effort to build a team capable of competing against established programs.
What NU had on its side, however, was time.
Rather than rush into the league, the Lady Bulldogs maximized a year of preparation. The team held tryouts and recruited student-athletes from different parts of the country, before putting the pieces together into a cohesive unit.
“Regarding our selection process, we had our tryouts last year, in August,” said Payson.
“And we’ve selected, we think, the best of the best for NU Manila. They came from the provinces of Laguna, Masbate, Cagayan De Oro, Davao, NCR, Baguio, and Tuguegarao — ‘yun ang mga selected members namin.”
NU’s arrival also brings a new format to the women’s division, which will now feature a Final Four, similar to the format used in the men’s and high school boys’ divisions last season.
But the Lady Bulldogs could hardly have asked for a tougher introduction to the league.
NU will open its campaign against ‘five-peat’-seeking FEU when the two teams headline the opening day of Season 89 next Wednesday at 7:00 PM at the UP Diliman Football Stadium.
Instead of feeling intimidated by the challenge of facing the defending champions, however, Payson said his team is embracing the opportunity to test itself against one of the league’s strongest programs.
“Well, for one, the whole team, including the coaching staff, is very excited because it is the first time [the] NU Ladies Football Team will participate in a UAAP game,” he said.
“So lahat ng players ko, excited now to play sa first game against FEU — a very competitive team — but we will try our best to be at par with everything here in the UAAP.”
