Magsaysay Golf Cup

I'd like to extend a very warm birthday greetings to a sportsman, who turned a year older yesterday - Cong. Jose 'Dodong' R. Gullas, the chairman of the board of The FREEMAN.

Sir Dodong has not only contributed immensely to the development of education in this part of the world, but also to sports development.

Many may know Sir Dodong more as the educator, but do you know that he once played for the fabled University of the Visayas Lancers? Yes he did and the team, which was then coached by his brother Rep. Eduardo Gullas, reaped honors in the national level.

Sir Dodong is also an avid tennis player and more than that, he and his family are also major reasons why the sport is doing well in Cebu by sponsoring tournaments like the Gullas Cup, which has grown bigger every year.

When he was president of the Cebu Amateur Athletic Association (CAAA) in 1999, he turned the league around by introducing the home and away format that revived the interest of the students on their tournament.

Before that, the CAAA was suffering from dwindling attendance and lack of interest of the fans. When the home and away format was introduced, many students were able to watch the games and cheer for their school teams for the first time.

Happy birthday, Sir!

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I received an e-mail about a worthy golf tournament - the 3rd Magsaysay Golf Cup, which will be held on March 6 at the Ayala Greenfields Estates Golf and Leisure Club, which according to my compadre Al Mendoza, yes the famous sportswriter, is near Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Or probably, still a part of Calamba, Laguna.

The worthy cause that this tournament is supporting is the future of the youth according to the letter attached to the e-mail.

The proceeds will go to the youth development projects of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. These are the Ramon Magsaysay Student Essay Competition, the Magsaysay Award Youth Leaders Fellowship Program, and the Magsaysay Debates Cup.

The tournament is open to everyone interested. I'll give you more details in my coming columns.

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Do you play bridge?

If you do, then you are invited to join their regular games at 7 pm on weekdays or as early as 2 pm on rainy days, said Reny Sarmiento, who is one of the regular players together with former Cebu City Mayor Alvin Garcia, and retired Colonels Manning Parcon and Chappy Guevarra.

If you want to join the group you can contact Col. Parcon at 3461840, said Daisy Moro, who also joins the group from time to time.

If you have no idea what bridge I am writing about is, then here is a definition, which I got from www.interlog.com.

Bridge is a skilled card game derived from whist, for four or groups of four people, playing in pairs. In the first case, the game is usually played in a rubber format and the winner is the pair that accumulates the greatest number of points (awarded according to certain rules) at the end of the rubber. In the second case, or duplicate bridge, the same distribution of cards is played at all the tables and the winning pair is decided by comparing the results from each table. In this case, bridge is not a game anymore; it is a fair competition from which luck has been eliminated.

The game itself is considered to be the most stimulating card game ever conceived. At the same time, it takes longer to learn it and even longer to master it. The key is practice. Try to find a friend or a relative who would also like to learn it and do it together. It is more fun and you already have found your partner! At the end of the lessons, both of you would have learned the same thing and you would already have the bidding and playing tuned properly.

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MILESTONES: Happy birthday to my rocker cousin, Vincent Theodore Q. Cruz, who turns a year older today.

Belated happy birthday greetings to Cleofe Delfino-Calridad, one of my classmates from my elementary days, who turned a year older last January 31.

Advanced happy birthday greetings go to another classmate, Charito 'Chat' Labay, who celebrates her birthday tomorrow.

More power!