Aspirations in Sports

The dream of young athletes in public schools is to compete in sports activities in the annual Palarong Pambansa. This year, this national event will be held in Cebu City.

To every Cordilleran, especially those in the elementary grades and high school years, it is an adventure to face and compete with other compatriots from other regions and make friends.

Added is the opportunity to travel to other places in the country, this time via the vast spans of the sea and experience a boat ride. And with luck, the possibility of a sight of adorable friendly dolphins alongside.

As we write this piece, the competitions at the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Assn. (CARAA) in Apayao province has ended. Baguio City, once more, maintained her victorious dominance by winning the most numbers of medals in gold, silver and bronze.

The superiority of Baguio City pupils and students could be attributed to the availability of sports facilities and equipment. It is given with the higher budget allocated to the school board out of her multi-billion-peso income.

Tabuk, a city within Kalinga province, came poorly in the 7th place beating only Mt. Province which performed the weakest among the eight provinces and cities in the region.

Surprisingly, Apayao came in second as overall champion for the third time edging Benguet in the past years. CARAA games were suspended, by the way, for years 2020, 2021, and 2022 due to the prevalence of the fearful COVID epidemic.

What could be the secret of Apayao, a back-water province in North Luzon, coming in strongly over the other delegations? Local budgets of the province and towns are limited considering. She is classified as third class LGU in terms of economic development with a measly income ranging between P240 to P395 millions. The selection of athletes is also limited to a small figure out of a 124,000 population.

Could it be the determination of local public school officials and coaches to select the train athletic potentials from their school populations? Could it be enriched diets in training and during competition periods? Could it be the support and encouragement of her elective officials?

We have noted pictures on Facebook of the governor, congressman and town officials sending off the enthusiastic young boys and girls to the competition arena. Who knows, perhaps, bonuses in terms of cash allowances were offered as incentives to those who won medals. We have seen no fotos from other delegations.

A retired public-school coach and a friend told us that training with the proper equipment and diet are the key to sports development. By its mandate, the education department must provide these basic needs.

But truth be told, such are wanting. In most instances, coaches are ill prepared to demonstrate correct training methods. Training periods are very limited to an average of two weeks. Personal sports gear is of poor quality. Uniforms and shoes are normally given only as the athletes embark to meet their worthy opponents.

Dear readers may recall years ago of the barefoot girl from Tinoc, Ifugao who runs long distance tracks. She championed the CARAA but did not fare well only to lose the gold a few feet behind in the Palarong Pambansa.

If only she had been provided with the proper running shoes during training and in competition, who knows, our mountain region might have had a national athlete representing the country on the world stage.