BIZ BUZZ: From Maroons to Blue Eagles

After eight years of standing as a godfather of the University of the Philippines (UP) Men’s Basketball Team, businessman Januario Jesus “JJ” Atencio bid the Maroons adieu this University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 88.

The move was due to “personal reasons.”

But at the same time, Atencio felt it was time to help Ateneo regain its former glory now that the Maroons have become a formidable team.

The last time Ateneo made it to the championship round was in Season 85 (2022), when it reclaimed the crown lost to the Maroons in Season 84 (2021-2022).

Ateneo president Fr. Roberto “Bobby” Yap also reached out to Atencio at the right time, having long wondered why the latter wasn’t pouring resources to his alma mater instead.

Atencio met with the people involved in the Blue Eagles’ sports program, including college buddies Rudy Ang and Johnny Go.

“That paved the way for the sponsorship,” Atencio told Biz Buzz.

“But the bigger picture is the establishment of the Januarius Athlete Performance Center at the Blue Eagle gym. We’re bringing in state-of-the-art performance testing for athletes that can digitally measure all components related to an athlete’s performance,” he said.

Atencio’s group, after all, is the Philippine representative of VALD Performance, global provider of technology to measure, manage and improve athletes’ strength, power, movement, balance, asymmetry and more.

“With all that context, we can now say that the reason why we’re supporting Ateneo now is because we’ve always been attracted by the underdog story,” he said.

“Remember that when we came into UP, they were placed 7th. And now they’re at the top. So we hope to do the same with Ateneo. We’ll support the team when they’re down and continue to help all the way to the top,” Atencio added.