City lays out framework for long-term sports goals

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC), in partnership with the education officials, the private sector and some well-meaning sports personalities, has drafted a solid framework which will serve as a yardstick to its highly ambitious goals of winning a first ever championship in the Palarong Pambansa and producing a Cebuano Olympic gold medallist.

Speaking during the highly-successful summit yesterday at the City Hall Social Hall, CCSC chairman Edward Hayco said holding the event has something to do with the City's chances of becoming the top performing contingent in the 2013 Palaro as well as crafting a genuine grassroots development program aimed at molding an Olympic champion a decade from now.

"We only focused on the grassroots. Palaro and Olympics. We didn't touch the emerging sports and the sports museum as it is not appropriate for the summit. The purpose is to bring the sports stakeholders together and draw up an implementation strategy to reach out goals set," said Hayco, an award-winning sportsman and decorated dance athlete.

The one-day affair also showcased the unveiling of CCSC logo and scale model of the Cebu City Sports Institute, and the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the establishment of a value-laden development project up to the grassroot level.

Hayco opened the summit by presenting an eight-point agenda to the coaches, sports patrons, public school principals and educators, private schools athletic directors and officials of local National Sports Associations (NSAs).

To bolster their grassroots program, Hayco said they will establish a sports institute that will be beefed up by state-of-the-art facilities.

“Part of our course of action is to create the sports institute to oversee the development of elite athletes, which is our key to achieve our ultimate goal to become the Palaro champion in 2013 and eventually win an Olympic medal in 2020,” said Hayco.

Actually, the CCSC has already established a sports institute a few years back by converting the San Nicolas Sports Complex into a full-time training center complete with amenities and equipment. To make it more conducive for training, it will undergo a major facelift by January next year amounting to P7 million.

Also part of the agenda is to create of a database of coaches and supervise their training and developtment program, developlinkages with the different sectors of the community, promote emerging sports and sports tourism, and facilitate the creation of an interactive sports museum in Cebu to showcase the top Cebuano athletes from the past up to the present.

Among the luminaries who graced the ground-breaking event were former PSC commissioner Fr. Vicente L. Uy, SVD, Mayor Michael L. Rama and sportscaster Bill Velasco.

Others present were Cebu City Sports Center manager Ricky Ballesteros who talked about sports management and sports venue operation; and Dr. Rhoel James Timothy Dejanio, a sport medical practitioner who discussed matters relative to sports injuries and rehabilitation. (THE FREEMAN)