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Batang
Pinoy to end
Cat'nes
medal drought
A
sports consultant has backed the Batang Pinoy
sports program as the cure to Catanduanes' medal
drought in national and international athletic
competitions.
Provincial
sports consultant Jacinto V. Alcantara said he
has framed a unique sports program, modeled
along Batang Pinoy guidelines but adapting
physical fitness and sports development to
"climactic and logistical conditions"
in the island.
Under
Alcantara's proposal, the program will not
interfere with the academic studies of the
trainees, who will participate in daily, 5 A.M.
to 6 A.M. physical fitness exercises from Monday
to Friday, capped by a swig of "salabat"
(hot ginger extract drink).
The
program's core group and volunteers also have to
report for Saturday and Sunday Intensification
Training (SSIT), fortified with snacks and
lunch, at their respective Municipal Training
Centers. A municipal trainor will conduct the
exercises.
Alcantara
said local coaches knew too late that the
development of assets in individual sports
starts from the birth of the child.
He
cited athletes Lydia de Vega, who was found to
have clocked 7.4 seconds for the 50-meter
distance during a motor ability test in
kindergarten, and Olympic silver medalist
Mansueto Velasco, who was trained by his father
in his early years. He also mentioned gymnast
Bea Lucero, whose training was started early be
her mother that the young gymnast was Southeast
Asian champion in her category when she was
barely 12 years old.
The
former athletic coordinator of the Catanduanes
State Colleges noted that the implementation of
Republic Act 6847, which created the Philippine
Sports Commission, has interesting provisions.
Its adoption of the age grouping is expected to
remedy the tendency of Filipino coaches to cheat
by fielding overaged players.
These
coaches, he said, have no long-range sports
development program as they do not like to part
with the athletes they have developed although
they are overaged. New regulations, Alcantara
added, promise legal action against sports
cheats.
In
the new entry forms, coaches and trainors have
to indicate the age of their athletes to guide
tournament managers in pairing athletes from
different provinces by age. In the past, he
recalled, collegiate athletes were paired
against secondary entries and even against
elementary athletes.
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