Proud parents

For parents, the best part of getting your kids into sports is seeing them win in competitions. In over 16 years of covering sports events, I've seen how parents would beam at the success of their children.

During the time when there were not too many kids engaged in sports, it was easy to distinguish who was the parent of which athlete. It is not that easy anymore with almost everyone wanting to get their kids into sports very early in their lives.

Yesterday, during the awards ceremony of the 1st Samsung Visayas Mindanao Interscholastic Golf Championships, you can tell who was the parent of which kid by the way they reacted during the awards ceremony and the raffles.

Hector Almario was beaming with a lot of pride when his son, Enzo, was called to receive the championship trophy for the elementary division. I would say that Hector had a wider smile than his champion son. If I were in his shoes, I'd probably do the same.

There was also Jenny Wong, who is the ever-active mother of the golfing brood that is composed of Jyra, Hannah, and Raphael. Jenny's better-half Hector was also around to lend his moral support.

There were many other parents, who looked familiar and some who I personally know like Evelyn Tiu, Alvin Suarez, and Francis Dy that were very elated with the way things had gone in the tournament.

I also see similar faces when my buddies and our new found friends gather at the football field on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays to watch our kids practice.

When they score goals, you can just imagine how we'll react like it was made in an all-important match that meant the championship.

These things remind me of how much we had enjoyed our child's first step, his first word, and so on and so forth.

Getting involved in sports is a great way to come together as a family and is now being encouraged by many schools.

This was again obvious yesterday with school heads like Fr. Ernesto Javier, SJ of Sacred Heart School-Jesuit and Nelia Sarcol of the Centre for International Education attending the awards ceremony of the Samsung tournament.

I'm very sure there are many more tournaments lined-up for the rest of the school year for the different sporting disciplines and we'll see more parents and school officials getting involved or simply showing their wholehearted support.

If you want your kids to become better people, the get them into sports and I'm sure they'll learn a lot from it.

By the way, we parents would learn a lot from it too.

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Those whose kids go to Sacred Heart School-Jesuit elementary division are invited to bring them to the SHS-J football field this morning if not in future Saturday mornings.

The school is now actively recruiting players for the various age categories in the elementary level.

Feel free to join us also during Tuesday and Thursday at 4 pm or simply approach any of the parents at the field to get more information.

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MILESTONE: Belated happy birthday to Patrick 'Pato' Gregorio, who turned a year older yesterday. Pato who has just recently assumed a government sposition, is sorely missed by his many friends and colleagues from Cebu.

More power, Partner!