CEBU - I was invited to share the Cebu City experience to the participants of the Sports Tourism Forum in Cagayan de Oro City last Monday.
There are a few things that we can be proud of about our sports development program.
One of them is the success of the program for the promotion of dancesport ranging from the grassroots level to the elite class where our competitors are not only reaping awards in national competitions, but in international events as well.
Much of the credit of course goes to the man behind this – Edward Hayco, who has tirelessly pursued his dream of bringing dancesport to a new level.
Edward did not only pursue the lofty goals, but more importantly also made sure to develop the foundation so there would be a steady supply of athletes to support our goals of winning the various levels of competitions.
Of course, this success also came due to the support of government. This is a perfect example of what partnership can do for sports development.
In Cagayan de Oro, they are actively promoting white water rafting not only as a recreation activity, but also as a sport.
The private sector is very active in the endeavor and so are several government agencies including the Department of Tourism and the City Government. From what I gathered, there are still many things that can be done to push this to the next level and it seems that everyone I met was as excited as the other to make this happen.
One thing important in any partnership including marriage is how one compensates for the weakness of the other to bring out the best.
In the case of Team Cebu City Dancesport, the private sector has provided the finances, manpower, technical skills and the dedication to push the sport. The government took care partly of the finances, the infrastructure and the logistics.
There is however one more ingredient that brought success and that is synergy. No matter what talent or resources one brings into a partnership, if there is no synergy, goals can never be attained.
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The people behind The Freeman Foundation are very thankful to the Friends Forever for Charity Golf Foundation Inc., which donated P50,000 last Friday from the proceeds of the 8th Charity Fun Golf Tournament at the Cebu Country Club.
The Freeman Foundation has been a regular beneficiary of the tournament and this year, the amount given has even been increased.
I don’t have to expound on who benefit from the funds that the foundation receives as you can see them on the newspaper everyday. But, acts of kindness like this very recent donation from friends in the golf community, strengthens my belief that if we all do one little thing to make something better, we can do it.
The 144 players, who took part in the tournament and the organizers of the event, did a little thing each that came out to a whopping total of P1.2 million donated to various charities including the Tzu Chi Foundation, ERUF, and Missionaries of Charity.
If each of us does one little thing like obeying traffic rules, disposing of our trash properly, eating the right food, loving our children, we can have a better world.
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MILESTONES: I’d like to wish my Big Brother, Ramon U. Sebastian, a very happy birthday as he turns a year older today. Ramon is one friend, who will be with you through thick or thin, which members of his family and many of his friends would attest to.
Belated birthday greetings also to Kaye Yap-Wee, who celebrated yesterday and to a bunch of friends who celebrated last Monday like business editor Joefel O. Banzon, my mistah Fermin Carangan of the Air Force, Joy Cañon of UBix, and Jojie Binoya of Philexport.
More power to all of you! – THE FREEMAN