Suspended

I’d like to wish the players of Alta Vista Golf and Country Club all the best as they leave for Davao City today to compete in the first leg of the Sta. Lucia Golf Tour at the Rancho Palos Verdes.

AVGCC is fielding several players in the various categories to be contested in the four-man team event.

The club used to be the overall champion of this tournament open exclusively to members of golf courses under the umbrella of Sta. Lucia Realty and Development Inc.

Bring home the bacon my friends and bring home some durian and pomelo too.

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I hope the suspension of the players from Abellana National School would be lifted.

The team was suspended from competitions for one year by the Department of Education for failing to get the blessings of DepEd before embarking on the journey to Dumaguete City for the regional eliminations of the Philippine Olympic Festival.

It is good that coach Francis Ramirez has taken full responsibility for what happened and has asked that his players be spared. This act may not exactly exonerate the team, but it shows that he can face responsibility, which is a good trait for coaches.

I however hope that the reason for the move to sanction the team does not involve politics.

While some see this is something political, I’d also like to point out some things that the POF as an event direly lack.

One is proper coordination.

For the past two years, I have learned, the letter of invitation for Cebu to send a team has only been sent to Capitol while Cebu City has not necessarily been snubbed, but the organizers don’t know the difference. They think that Cebu City is under Cebu Province and not a separate city owing to its highly-urbanized status.

Cebu City did manage to send teams last year as the national sports associations managed to contact the local officials of their chapters here. This is the reason why we won a gold medal in football and another in judo last year.

Those who have participated in the POF and those who have seen closely what the organizers have done are not exactly impressed with the way the event is being ran.

The concept is good, in fact, very good. Unfortunately, the organizers still need to do more to improve the event.

This is actually even better than the now defunct Philippine National Games, which had everyone heading to one place to compete.

The POF holds regional eliminations and only the top three for the three major island groups – Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao – make it to the national championships.

I’m sure the problem that the ANS football team now faces would have been avoided if there had been more coordination between the POF organizers, the DepEd, local government units, and even the Philippine Sports Commission.

The PSC is not the one running the POF just to set the record straight.

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MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings to Arabelle Abellana-Villa, who turned a year older yesterday.

Happy birthday greetings go to Y101’s Charlene Go, who is turning another chapter in her life today.

More power to both of you!