Bleacher Talk
March 1, 2009
Palaro Glory Days
As the month of March rolls around every schoolyear, the sports world is all excited about the remaining big tournaments for inter-school competition. The big dance then was always the Palarong Pambansa, an Olympic-style event that brings together the best athletes representing the different regions of the country. In a way, the Palaro is still one of the most respected sports events, but one has to admit that it no longer has the glamour, popularity and stature that it once had among sports aficionados.
Pardon the age gap, but I won’t ever forget how the likes of Lydia de Vega and Isidro del Prado were discovered through the Palaro. Many of our country’s top athletes under Mike Keon’s Gintong Alay program were discovered at the different stagings of the Palaro in the 80’s. Many of them became stars in their own right and represented our country well in international competitions. They would pluck gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games and would also win a handful at the tough Asian Games.
In our time, the Palaro was something that we all wanted to go to as athletes. We were told that we first had to win the local competitions held at the city/town level. This would go up to the provincial and eventually the regional level. For us in Region 7, making the CVIRAA team was the ultimate goal as it meant going to the Palarong Pambansa. For many, to make it to the CVIRAA team was already like winning Palaro gold since they knew that it would be tough to beat the best of the country who usually came out of the Manila (NCR) and West Visayas.
But now I ask. What is the Palaro like these days? Is it the same event that can still be called the Olympics of Philippine youth? Has the Palaro discovered new and young athletes who can represent the country well at the international level? I ask this because I don’t even know the answer. My impression is that the Palaro isn’t what it used to be for those of us in the sports world. Gone are the ooh’s and ah’s that are always heard each time a new blue chip prospect is seen in the Palaro in the same way that Diay de Vega and del Prado upstaged the local competition. Gone, too are the demigod-like praises and salutes for the Palaro, much in the same way that we are always impressed with every staging of the Olympics, especially the most recent Beijing Games. Everyone is already looking forward to the 2012 London Olympics even if it’s three years away. The not-so-glamorous comment that I’ve heard about the Palaro is that it has now become a venue for cities or provinces to be gifted with a multi-million peso sports center. Win the bid to host a Palaro and win an instant sports center, complete with a rubberized track oval, a 50-meter swimming pool and an indoor wooden basketball gym.
And so I ask again, does the Palarong Pambansa still have the sting that it once had as the multi-sport spectacle of the country?
I hope I’m wrong, but one thing is sure. The Palaro, which also turns out to be one of the most expensive sports events for which we taxpayers are paying, is still being held. That’s as far as I can say. Whether or not it is meeting the purpose for which it was organized may be a different story altogether. The ultimate gauge to determine if it’s still working as a sporting event is to see how many of its gold medallists have moved on to have had successful careers at the collegiate or amateur level, the next logical step for all Palaro “graduates.” Each sport can already make an assessment, especially those that have had a rich history of successful athletes out of the Palaro. Athletics (track and field) has always been a rich source of national athletes in the past. Ditto for swimming and football. Basketball no longer uses the Palaro to discover athletes since the country’s top collegiate teams recruit directly from the high school circuit more than they do in the Palaro network. How is it with other sports? Hmm.
Looking at the bright side, the Palaro is still the only multi-sport and nationwide-level competition that is held in one setting, much like all Olympic Games are held. Everything from basketball to athletics, badminton, gymnastics and football are played in a span of seven days with a region coming out as an over-all champion in either the high school or elementary level. The province of Leyte is this year’s host with most of the events to be played in Tacloban City, our neighbors in the East Visayas.
As this year’s Palaro takes place, it is our wish that it once again serves its purpose of discovering the country’s top potential athletes in all sporting events. It is our wish that the Palaro get back to its glory days when every sports fan looked forward to every staging and eagerly waited for the list of athletes who stood out among the thousands of athletes who got together for seven days of intense competition, camaraderie and fun.
Wish ko lang.
oOo
Time-out: We are requesting friends to pray for the soul of Tita Nilda Parco who passed away recently. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
March 1, 2009
Palaro Glory Days
As the month of March rolls around every schoolyear, the sports world is all excited about the remaining big tournaments for inter-school competition. The big dance then was always the Palarong Pambansa, an Olympic-style event that brings together the best athletes representing the different regions of the country. In a way, the Palaro is still one of the most respected sports events, but one has to admit that it no longer has the glamour, popularity and stature that it once had among sports aficionados.
Pardon the age gap, but I won’t ever forget how the likes of Lydia de Vega and Isidro del Prado were discovered through the Palaro. Many of our country’s top athletes under Mike Keon’s Gintong Alay program were discovered at the different stagings of the Palaro in the 80’s. Many of them became stars in their own right and represented our country well in international competitions. They would pluck gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games and would also win a handful at the tough Asian Games.
In our time, the Palaro was something that we all wanted to go to as athletes. We were told that we first had to win the local competitions held at the city/town level. This would go up to the provincial and eventually the regional level. For us in Region 7, making the CVIRAA team was the ultimate goal as it meant going to the Palarong Pambansa. For many, to make it to the CVIRAA team was already like winning Palaro gold since they knew that it would be tough to beat the best of the country who usually came out of the Manila (NCR) and West Visayas.
But now I ask. What is the Palaro like these days? Is it the same event that can still be called the Olympics of Philippine youth? Has the Palaro discovered new and young athletes who can represent the country well at the international level? I ask this because I don’t even know the answer. My impression is that the Palaro isn’t what it used to be for those of us in the sports world. Gone are the ooh’s and ah’s that are always heard each time a new blue chip prospect is seen in the Palaro in the same way that Diay de Vega and del Prado upstaged the local competition. Gone, too are the demigod-like praises and salutes for the Palaro, much in the same way that we are always impressed with every staging of the Olympics, especially the most recent Beijing Games. Everyone is already looking forward to the 2012 London Olympics even if it’s three years away. The not-so-glamorous comment that I’ve heard about the Palaro is that it has now become a venue for cities or provinces to be gifted with a multi-million peso sports center. Win the bid to host a Palaro and win an instant sports center, complete with a rubberized track oval, a 50-meter swimming pool and an indoor wooden basketball gym.
And so I ask again, does the Palarong Pambansa still have the sting that it once had as the multi-sport spectacle of the country?
I hope I’m wrong, but one thing is sure. The Palaro, which also turns out to be one of the most expensive sports events for which we taxpayers are paying, is still being held. That’s as far as I can say. Whether or not it is meeting the purpose for which it was organized may be a different story altogether. The ultimate gauge to determine if it’s still working as a sporting event is to see how many of its gold medallists have moved on to have had successful careers at the collegiate or amateur level, the next logical step for all Palaro “graduates.” Each sport can already make an assessment, especially those that have had a rich history of successful athletes out of the Palaro. Athletics (track and field) has always been a rich source of national athletes in the past. Ditto for swimming and football. Basketball no longer uses the Palaro to discover athletes since the country’s top collegiate teams recruit directly from the high school circuit more than they do in the Palaro network. How is it with other sports? Hmm.
Looking at the bright side, the Palaro is still the only multi-sport and nationwide-level competition that is held in one setting, much like all Olympic Games are held. Everything from basketball to athletics, badminton, gymnastics and football are played in a span of seven days with a region coming out as an over-all champion in either the high school or elementary level. The province of Leyte is this year’s host with most of the events to be played in Tacloban City, our neighbors in the East Visayas.
As this year’s Palaro takes place, it is our wish that it once again serves its purpose of discovering the country’s top potential athletes in all sporting events. It is our wish that the Palaro get back to its glory days when every sports fan looked forward to every staging and eagerly waited for the list of athletes who stood out among the thousands of athletes who got together for seven days of intense competition, camaraderie and fun.
Wish ko lang.
oOo
Time-out: We are requesting friends to pray for the soul of Tita Nilda Parco who passed away recently. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
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