Huck O Hunyo 9: The Lucky 7 at Hucky 9
Seven Teams.
Yes, there were only seven teams for this year’s, Huck O Hunyo. On its nine years of existence, this was probably the smallest number of participants that came out to play. We all even fit in one grandstand, teams don't need to go far to find shade to settle in when they’re not playing. Four teams from Panay and three from Negros battled it out, and though there were only seven teams and a few guests from Manila, Cebu, and Boracay, the atmosphere was a lot of fun with many familiar faces came by to support the tournament, and of course the healthy rivalry between Panay and Negros teams were always fun to watch.
I stayed for the full morning schedule of Day 1, but I have to leave for another shooting coverage that day. Good thing Nico was also in town, so he came by to support the Iloilo tournament and photographed the second half of the day. There were a lot of fun matchups especially when a Panay and Negros team going at it. But the nicest thing about having only seven teams is that you can actually see who has the real potential to follow the footsteps of the likes of Qhenjune Villanueva who dominated Huck O Hunyo for years. There were a couple that has the potential to go all the way. I just hope that they will have a chance to get more exposure and experiences by playing in some higher level tournaments in the coming years.
Day 2 opened with a quick heavy downpour that gave the opening game lots of puddle of water and mud. But rain doesn't really bother these kids anymore. They came to Iloilo city to do what they do best, play hard ultimate all day long. And so they did.
After a few knock out games and lots of laughs from friends, the finals of Huck O Hunyo 9 was finally set. And yes you guessed it, it’s Panay vs Negros once again. But this time though, the young boys and girls of Boracay NexGen together with some Huck O Hunyo Veterans like Ronan Batralo, Gayang Batralo, Sophie Sacapano, Sheila Gascon, Gio Golez and HG Villarin to name a few came to their aid to go head to head with Bacolod City’s top team and a regular in Huck O Hunyo championship rounds, Team Kaiju.
It was an exciting and high flying match up between these two teams as both played really well on both ends of the pitch. At the early part of the game, Team SB (Boracay) had a comfortable lead but the experienced Kaiju bounced back and equalized the playing field. The game intensified as the crowd stood up from their seats and both teams found themselves lining up for the last universe point of the tournament. As the pitch goes dark and muddy, Sheila Gascon snuck herself on the right side of the end zone to spoil the Kaiju’s retaliation from last years loss against the top team of Iloilo, Panay Intensity and gave Team SB their first ever Huck O Hunyo title.
Hats off and kudos to Huck Organizers! Though they only have seven teams this year, they didn’t give up. Did not cancel the tournament or heard any complaints from them. They stood up from the challenge and made it work. Because for them, it´s all about giving everyone a great experience when they visit Iloilo. Seeing old teammates and friends, and spreading the good word about Ultimate to new players. It was actually great to hear that there are new teams building up from two other towns in Iloilo now. Great news for IUPA and for the rest of the community. To Novea, Noynoy, Juan, Razen and the rest of the organizers, I just hope that you will continue in organizing Huck O Hunyo in the coming years. You may have the smallest number of teams this year, But I believe that Huck will be great again.
I just hope that you believe it too.
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