School sports

The change in schedule in the staging of The View Invitational removed the problem of rain during the tournament.

Next year, the organizers plan to retain the schedule and hope to improve on certain aspects where there were some glitches this year.

To all the participants, organizers, and staff of Alta Vista Golf and Country Club, congratulations for a job well done!

By the way, those who are planning to play on Monday, May 31, the course will be closed as we give way to the annual employees’ day.

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With the school break winding up, I hope that the parents would continue to support their children’s participation in sports during the school days.

One development that I have observed though is that most schools have improved their sports programs by hiring coaches and investing on facilities and equipment.

The schools remain to be the best place to develop the potentials due to its structured program.

While I still hear some parents complain about the lack of interest of their school to push sports, there have also been many institutions that are opening their doors to non-academic activities particularly sports.

Before, you can rarely see certain schools excel in sports, but that is not the case now.

Take for example Sacred Heart School Ateneo de Cebu, which built a rubberized track oval in its campus in Canduman, Mandaue City. The result was winning the overall title in the elementary division of the Milo Little Olympics last school year.

There is also Bright Academy, which has produced top football and tennis players.

Paref Springdale is also well-known for its football program and several other small schools have also developed top athletes in various sporting disciplines.

Our commitment as parents to develop top athletes does not however end with the choice of a school as we have to also continuously give our support not only financially, but also in many other ways.

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Sportsmanship is learning to accept defeat graciously.

It hurts to lose, but when you lose, it is always best to know how to handle it and then get back on your feet.

If you lose in sports, you have to practice harder the next time. Unfortunately the same doesn’t seem to be the case in our recent elections.

Some losers are now complaining about cheating and what is quite sad is that there are some who claim to have prior knowledge of the allegations of cheating but only came out in the open now.

Many times I have come across people who protest the results of the game after they lose because of some technicality that they already have knowledge about even before the game started.

I’m not saying that there was no cheating and I believe that all allegations have to be looked into. I just am not comfortable with the timing of the pronouncements of some people about their knowledge about the plans to cheat. 

Well, let’s hope for the best for our beloved country.

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MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings go to my godson, Carlo C. Garcia, some of my mistah Joselito ‘Jessie’ Garcia of Tsuneishi, who turned a year older last Monday.

The same greetings also go to those who turned a year older yesterday – top photographer Erwin T. Lim, my long-time friend John Kiener, Atty. Karen Quiñanola, my high school classmate Dr. Arthur Padilla, and Melanie Ng.

Today’s birthday greetings go to my mistah Edwin Batalla.

More power to all of you! – THE FREEMAN