The University of the Americas Puebla (UDLAP) is in the eye of all university leagues, after it became known that their representative teams will not participate in the contests for the rest of the year. The reason for this is the armed takeover of the university more than 100 days ago, which keeps the university campus closed, leaving thousands of students without access to it.
This university has quality teams and a long history of championships, especially in the disciplines of American Football, Athletics, Women’s Soccer and Taekwondo. In addition to having high quality teams within basketball with great expectations year after year.
On October 7, the interim rector, Dr. Cecilia Anaya Berrios, announced that because of the armed takeover of the campus that occurred on June 29. Although this legal conflict has affected students without the possibility of having face-to-face classes, and the use of its facilities, now it affects high-performance athletes who are awarded scholarships by the UDLAP.
The biggest visible sports problem is only not having the facilities to carry out their activities, however it affects the students themselves in more ways than one. All these athletes have not seen action on the playing field since March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure and cancellation of all sports activities.
These athletes missed more than a year of training, field practice, in addition to a year of eligibility in their respective leagues. Today the athletes of this institution will be denied one more year of activity, and the possibility of seeking a championship, in addition to uncertainty about what the next year holds.
This does not end here, since many athletes also lost the opportunity to play for the last time in their university uniform. In addition to being able to demonstrate during their games that they could play at a professional level and seek a future based on sports.
If we go to institutional issues, the university could lose money in fines for the same leagues by revoking their registrations. In the same way, the loss of money they had thanks to the sponsorships they handled in the American Football games within their grid “The temple of pain.”
It is a pitiful situation that exists today at the University of the Americas Puebla, who is kidnapped by a “new board of trustees,” which day by day affects the students of said institution more. The situation of the university control should be carried out in courts, without affecting the education of thousands of students.
It should be noted that the UDLAP for many years has been one of the institutions with the best student sports scholarship programs, offering the vast majority of students free housing, food and education.