Tiff Atendido, middle, first reported for University of the East. File photo by Ronin Bautista.

While watching a basketball game on TV, Tiff Atendido noticed a girl in the sidelines, holding a microphone. She knew from that moment that she wanted to be like that girl. Her ultimate goal, upon entering college, is to become a UAAP courtside reporter for De La Salle University. “I wanted the chance to be friends with the Archers, report for them and make my school proud,” she says.

But she was off to a bad start. The year she entered college was the season DLSU was suspended for fielding ineligible players. By the next year, she forgot to audition and missed the deadline. The courtside reporter stint for La Salle went to Sharon Yu for that season. Come 2008, Tiff made sure that she would not miss the auditions.

During the audition, the director asked her to pretend that it was halftime of an Ateneo – La Salle game, with the latter down by 20 points. She needed to ask Coach Franz, who was played out by TJ Manotoc, two questions. Tiff jokingly shares that her first question was very typical and obvious.

“My second question was stupid. ‘So coach, coming into games like these, do you tell your players that there will be a chance at losing?’ Oh well, it was a think-off-your-feet kind of thing and with less than a minute to think, that was the best I could think of.”

But the make-or-break-it point came with her willingness to report for other schools, since Sharon was still eligible for a second year stint.
Tiff said no. She didn’t get a second call back.

After such setbacks, it was easier to just believe that this isn’t something for you, but Tiff was really adamant to reach her goal. She recalls that she was eager to audition again as Sharon had already served two years – the maximum allowed.

That year, she answered differently, and she ended up reporting for the University of the East. One producer even told her, “You know what we [are] happy you came back. We liked you from last year but you said you only wanted to report for La Salle.”

And it had been a good Season 72 for UE too. The Red Warriors reached the finals, before losing to Ateneo in game 3. “With UE, I had no idea about the school environment, culture, etc. Plus, dagdag effort to visit practice. But, I really felt the love from the boys. They never made me feel I’m a Lasallian and they are from UE. I cried when they cried, I rejoiced when they rejoiced. I felt like the team was also family because they treated me pretty well,” she recalls.

Tiff had been asked to come back in 2010 to report for UE. Unfortunately, she just enrolled in law school and had to decline. It seemed that it was the end of the courtside reporting experience for her.

Not quite so.

Tiff Atendido, during her 2nd UAAP courtside reporter stint. This time, she represented her own university, DLSU. File photo by Martin San Diego

By her second year in law school, Tiff was already well-adjusted and she sought to audition again. This time she was really keen on just reporting for the Archers.

During the auditions, instead of being grilled, she was asked to share her experiences as a courtside reporter. “I was in the limbo figuring out if I was in or not.” Then, the producer called her to drop in ABS-CBN for contract signing. She finally got the DLSU assignment!

“I wanted to scream, mag tumbling, lahat sa saya. But I kept my cool and just thanked her. Then with a smile on my face, [I] went to Lasalle coz I still had class,” she recalls.

Tiff said the experience had made her more confident and be an even bigger fan. It had me her support players like LA Revilla, like she has known them her entire life. It made her love her school more and be prouder that she’s a Lasallian. She had even come to the realization that she wanted to be a TV personality.

Even as she now prepares for the bar exam, Tiff admits that even if she is going to be a lawyer, she wants to do a TV show on showbiz gossip. “And of course I plan to watch and forever cheer for the guys in Green!”

(‘Tales from the courtside’ catches up with former courtside reporters who have charmed sports fans and televiewers alike during their term as representatives of the association’s member universities. Previously featured were Trish Roque, Tracy Abad,  Sharon Yu, Pia Arcangel, and Job de Leon)