DepEd Sports

It’s that time of the school-year when you’ll see Facebook posts about schools participating, winning (or losing) in what they’ll refer to as “District Meets.” What are these? It’s actually the starting point of a series of multi-sport events that starts at the lowest/district level, climbs up to the division meet and on to the regional meet before it tops off with the Palarong Pambansa. This is managed by the Department of Education as it implements the Palarong Pambansa Act of 2013. Various district meets were held all over the province over the past two weeks, with each district normally composed of both public and private schools that are clustered based on geography/location. The district is defined by the DepEd with each district managed by a point person. This position is called the district supervisor, OIC or manager. 

The events played at the Palarong Pambansa are also supposed to be the same events held at the lowest level. These are athletics (track & field), arnis, badminton, baseball, basketball, billiards, boxing, chess, football, futsal, gymnastics, speak takraw, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, wrestling and wushu. The winners of the events played at the district meet then move up to the division meet. This is usually at the city/division level for the cities that stand alone as Deped divisions, e.g. Cebu, City, Mandaue City, Lapu-lapu City. The winners at the division level move up to the regional level, i.e. the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA). For the province of Cebu, the step-ladder format can start from a district meet leading to a municipal meet before going to a provincial meet. The winners from the Cebu Province Division Meet qualify for the CVIRAA. Just one look at all this gives us an idea of how busy the sports scene of Cebu is. Every town or city of the province is abuzz with sports competitions. Thanks to social media, we get to see glimpses of these as these aren’t covered by the mainstream sports media. The noise gets louder when the Cebu City Olympics takes place in November and this all reaches a climax at the CVIRAA some time in February when the region’s best converge to determine who will represent the Central Visayas at the Palarong Pambansa (usually held in April or May).

I really admire the DepEd for setting up this whole program as the implementor of the Palarong Pambansa Act of 2013. Nothing beats all the documents, memos and guidelines for the program’s implementation, and these are all filed in the archives of the DepEd but can also be downloaded on the internet. From the looks of it on paper, it’s all very impressive, isn’t it? But yes, there’s a but in all this. While the over-all program for the running of sports competitions is practically perfect, there is something missing; and makes all these district meets a case of "for compliance" more than a drive to discover the talents in the rough. Ironically, this plays a huge part in sports development. It’s the implementation of a comprehensive sports program for school-based teams that will compete in all these competitions. After all, what use is a sports meet without well-trained athletes? The program should consist of a regular training program for a school’s top athletes (per event), and this should include a calendar for training and playing in tune-up or practice games/competitions/tournaments before participating in the actual district or division meets. Obviously part of this should be the provision of venues/faciltities, equipment and tools needed to train as a team or as individuals. The edge in this department obviously goes to private schools that have sports programs. But what about the public schools? Do they have such programs that go beyond the mere implementation of competitions? I can cite a few public schools that have programs but these are few and rare. Among these include the programs at Abellana National School, Mandaue City Comprehensive National High School, Talisay, Catmon and Carmen among others. My apologies if I missed out on some that deserve mention. But one thing certain is that so much more can be done with the public schools. Note that there is a wealth of talent in the system and it’s just a simple case of discovering them. But how can they be discovered if no sports programs are implemented? Resources and money will always be a concern but those mentioned earlier have proven that with the right approach, sacrifice and determination, it can be accomplished. I can still recall how the Catmon girls were unbeatable in elementary girls volleyball. Didn't Gretchel Soltones and Issa Molde once play for Catmon? Didn't Sisi Rondina once play in the CVIRAA?  Can this be replicated in other sports?

I hope the DepEd can find ways to partner with its counterpart LGU and private sponsors/supporters to establish sports programs for public schools across the province. For starters, we already have the usual barangay gyms or multi-purpose buildings in almost all barangays, don't we? And don't all towns have its own gyms? Some schools have open fields in the middle of its campuses. We have track ovals in places like Naga, Danao and Balamban. Some may not have rubberized tracks but this can't stop people from running, can it? Many towns have their public plazas or fields, i.e. Carmen, Naga, Minglanilla among others. The point is simple: There are talents. There are basic facilities. There are competitions. Where are the sports programs?

I’ve always described the glass called "DepEd Sports" as half-full. And it still is today. Let’s find ways to fill up the other half.