"Sports do not build character. They reveal it."
--Heywood Broun
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- There seems to be no real challenges and rivalries among the Philippines' young athletes today.
Their lead in the official medal tally as of this writing shows that National Capital Region (NCR) athletes are poised to again wrap up the 2017 Palarong Pambansa in San Jose, Antique.
As hosts, athletes from the Western Visayas Regional Athletics Association (WVRAA) are supposed to dominate the annual multi-sport event involving student-athletes from the Philippines' 18 regions.
It's not about which sports regional associations finished first, second or last. It's about the disparity in the medals won. It's about which athletes broke most of the national records.
And it appeared to be an all-NCR show in as far as the number of gold, silver, and bronze medals that have been, so far, collected, is concerned.
This is not a good sign if we aim to use the event as recruitment hub for future members of the RP Team in the SEA Games, Asian Games, and the World Olympic Games.
TALENTS
Submission of talents for the national team to be financed by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and governed by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) should be democratic or should come from the cross-section of the country.
Athletic forces must be shared by regions nationwide through equal opportunities in building of more facilities and grassroots training and development programs.
As of April 26, 2017, or two days before the culmination of the week-long competitions with a motto, "Converges Youth Power; builds sustainable future," NCR has amassed 50 golds, 27 silvers, and 20 bronzes as against the 14-7-11 (G-S-B) collections of would-be second placer WVRAA.
Negros Island Region (NIRAA), with 10-11-11 (G-S-B) was breathing neck and neck with Cordillera Administrative Region (CARAA), with 10-8-7 (G-S-B).
HAUL
Most of NCR's gold medal haul came in swimming, where most tankers trained in world-class or Olympic-sized pools in Metro Manila.
Records were mostly shattered in the pools.
The Ilonggos were still deadly in track and field, but CARAA runners proved to be the track oval head turners in the games that started in 1948 as the Bureau of Public Schools-Interscholastic Athletics Association Games or BPISAA before it became a Palarong Pambansa.
It looked like WVRAA and other regions needed to modify and reinvigorate their grassroots programs in swimming and should not focus heavily on track and field and other ball games.
OBJECTIVES
Article XIV, Section 19 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution mandates the holding of the Palarong Pambansa with the following objectives:
-Physical Education and sports as an integral part of the Basic Education curriculum for holistic development of the youth;
-Inculcate the spirit of discipline, teamwork, excellence, fair play, solidarity, sportsmanship, and other values inherent in sports;
-Promote and achieve peace by means of sports;
-Widen the base for talent identification, selection, recruitment, training and exposure of elementary pupils and secondary students to serve as a feeder to the National Sports Association (NSA) for international competitions; and
-Provide a database for a valid and universal basis to further improve the school sports development programs.
Showing posts with label #Palarong Pambansa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #Palarong Pambansa. Show all posts
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Monday, April 24, 2017
Antique embraces spirit of Olympism
"Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game."
--Michael Jordan
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Hosting the 2017 Palarong Pambansa has catapulted Antique into the elite rank of Philippine provinces that have embraced the spirit of Olympism.
From the ranks of wet-behind-the-ear youngsters representing 18 regions nationwide will rise the country's next aspirants for world Olympic Games, the biggest global sporting event which originated in ancient Greece 3,000 years ago.
As we very well know, Palarong Pambansa is the precursor of bigger sports competitions where our world-class athletes are spotted, chosen, and trained to represent the country in the Southeast (SEA) Games, Asian Games, World Cup, Inter-Continental Games, and the World Olympic Games.
The Philippines is one of the only few Southeast Asian countries that have not won an Olympic gold medal since the first modern Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens, where 280 participants from 13 nations, competing in 43 events were featured.
Since 1994, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games have been held separately and have alternated every two years.
From the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D., the Games were held every four years in Olympia, located in the western Peloponnese peninsula, in honor of the god Zeus.
GOLD
With the participation of some of the country's finest and promising athletes in Binirayan Sports Complex in San Jose, Antique, we expect the first future Olympic gold medalist from the Philippines to emerge in the 2017 Palarong Pambansa.
The spirit of Olympism is the key. Big or small sporting competitions in any locality, Olympism promotes the sport for hope, which is a joint initiative between the International Olympic Committee, its Olympic Movement stakeholders and the local governments.
It aims to provide young people and local communities with positive sports development opportunities, offer state-of-the-art training facilities to the National Federations and the athletes of the country, and spread the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect. Sport for Hope Centres may also serve as platforms for social development and innovative cooperation to contribute to a better and more peaceful world through sport.
A Sport for Hope Center may be established in Antique after the staging of the Palarong Pambansa.
SEMINAR
In 1991, then Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Celso Dayrit propagated the spirit of Olympism among sports leaders in Iloilo City in a seminar attended by this writer.
Dayrit emphasized that the spirit of Olympism can emanate even in grassroots competitions like the Palarong Pambansa.
First espoused by the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pier de Coubertin, Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind.
Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
--Michael Jordan
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Hosting the 2017 Palarong Pambansa has catapulted Antique into the elite rank of Philippine provinces that have embraced the spirit of Olympism.
From the ranks of wet-behind-the-ear youngsters representing 18 regions nationwide will rise the country's next aspirants for world Olympic Games, the biggest global sporting event which originated in ancient Greece 3,000 years ago.
As we very well know, Palarong Pambansa is the precursor of bigger sports competitions where our world-class athletes are spotted, chosen, and trained to represent the country in the Southeast (SEA) Games, Asian Games, World Cup, Inter-Continental Games, and the World Olympic Games.
The Philippines is one of the only few Southeast Asian countries that have not won an Olympic gold medal since the first modern Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens, where 280 participants from 13 nations, competing in 43 events were featured.
Since 1994, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games have been held separately and have alternated every two years.
From the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D., the Games were held every four years in Olympia, located in the western Peloponnese peninsula, in honor of the god Zeus.
GOLD
With the participation of some of the country's finest and promising athletes in Binirayan Sports Complex in San Jose, Antique, we expect the first future Olympic gold medalist from the Philippines to emerge in the 2017 Palarong Pambansa.
The spirit of Olympism is the key. Big or small sporting competitions in any locality, Olympism promotes the sport for hope, which is a joint initiative between the International Olympic Committee, its Olympic Movement stakeholders and the local governments.
It aims to provide young people and local communities with positive sports development opportunities, offer state-of-the-art training facilities to the National Federations and the athletes of the country, and spread the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect. Sport for Hope Centres may also serve as platforms for social development and innovative cooperation to contribute to a better and more peaceful world through sport.
A Sport for Hope Center may be established in Antique after the staging of the Palarong Pambansa.
SEMINAR
In 1991, then Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Celso Dayrit propagated the spirit of Olympism among sports leaders in Iloilo City in a seminar attended by this writer.
Dayrit emphasized that the spirit of Olympism can emanate even in grassroots competitions like the Palarong Pambansa.
First espoused by the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pier de Coubertin, Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind.
Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
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