Let's start working

There were many new faces yesterday at Teatro Casino inside Waterfront Cebu City Hotel during the Sports Tourism Forum organized by Charles Lim of Selrahco.

Seeing all those new faces was a very good sign that there are many other people interested in promoting sports as a tourism come on and I’m sure those present yesterday also learned much from the different speakers.

The sports people, who I had the chance to talk with during the breaks, looked enlightened about certain matters that probably bothered them when they organized events in the past.

Princess Galura of IMG gave a very good talk that opened the eyes of many about how to go about getting sponsors. There are things that some local sports organizers are already doing, but the IMG model is surely something that we can all continue to learn from.

In short and simple language, sports cannot stand alone without the sponsors, government, and the private sector working hand in hand. No successful sporting event has made it without one of three things mentioned above.

What I am now very excited about is (aside from the repair of the track oval of the Cebu City Sports Center) is seeing more sports events in Cebu in the near future as our stakeholders are now armed with more information and the drive to push sports tourism.

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This early I am hopeful of a couple of sports tourism events that would be taking place later this year – the Cebu International Dancesport Championships and the Fiesta Islands Golf Tournament.

These two events have somewhat already been done in varying scales in the past.

I was seated beside the champion of Cebu dancesport, Edward Hayco, yesterday morning and also Ricca Alix, who was busy taking down notes while Princess was giving her talk.

Edward, his wife Eleanor, and Ricca are the three main people behind the major dancesport competitions in Cebu.

If we can hold an annual dancesport event that would bring the best of Asia and maybe the world to Cebu, this can put the spotlight on our beloved city and province in the world stage.

Yesterday afternoon, Plantation Bay GM Efren Belarmino walked into the room and we had a brief talk about the Fiesta Islands Golf Tournament, which we did with the Cebu Visitors and Convention Bureau a few years ago.

Efren said that he hopes it can happen again and I believe it can if the people in that forum yesterday would help put it together.

There are many things that we can do for sports and I hope that the forum would make more people understand what ought to be done and what their roles are for sports development.

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Tonight the Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC) and San Miguel Corporation will recognize the top achievers of 2008 in the All-Cebu Sports Awards at Casino Español.

Guest speaker tonight will be Rep. Monico Puentevella of Bacolod City, one politician, whose credentials as a sportsman and enthusiast are without question.

Boxing champion Manny Pacquiao is also set to grace tonight’s awards ceremony, to receive a lifetime achievement award from SAC.

Through my almost 20 years as a sportswriter, the awards ceremony has been the highlight of the year for SAC and Cebu sports.

There are many things that can still be done to push this recognition to a higher level and rest assured, the members of the SAC are working to make that happen.

There are those who may not have been recognized for their feats, but then that’s not really a reason to feel grumpy about. There are also those who think their ward deserves the award more than anyone, but they must remember that the coach is not the award giving body.

I still vividly remember that year when a coach promised his players that they’ll get an award and got angry when his players were not given because he promised them. I still can’t understand his logic, but I have forgiven him for his tantrums.

Tonight shall be a big night and shall hopefully encourage our athletes to strive harder. I too was twice the recipient of the judo athlete of the year award (1990 and 1994) and that places this event in a special place in my heart.

To all awardees, congratulations!

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MILESTONE: Happy birthday to my wife’s niece Christine R. Miñoza, who turns a year older today.

More power! (THE FREEMAN)