Rising to the challenge: Public school athletes make strong statement in Milo Olympics

CEBU, Philippines- All scores have been settled and the competition is now over in the highly-successful 19th Milo Little Olympics-Visayas but the event has somehow  become an eye-opener, if not, a vessel of motivation for public school athletes that they are capable of beating their fancied counterparts from private learning institutions.

True enough, the entire story of this year's edition of the annual developmental sports competition made possible by Nestle Philippines is not only about the University of San Carlos Basic Education completing another golden sweep but also about a bunch of public school athletes performing remarkably well on different fronts.

Dr. Danilo G. Villadolid, assistant Physical Education in School Sports  chief of the Department of Education-7, said part of the reason is that the public schools have finally come to realize that the training of athletes should not only be done once the regular school-year opens, but also during school breaks and summer vacation. In addition to that, DepEd's training program for coaches is now slowly shaping up.

“DepEd has already trained several coaches from public schools and  these coaches are doing continuous training to the athletes even during vacation,” he said.

On the other hand, Villadolid is not worried about any intimidation factor that may affect the public school athletes in the forthcoming Milo Little Olympics National Championships as they have national exposures already in the past.

For one, Subangdaku ES of Mandaue City, which swept the volleyball titles, has lorded it over in the Batang Pinoy last year.

“We tapped a trainor and we prepared really well for this year’s Milo Little Olympics. We hope to even improve what he got this year in the next edition,” said Dino Aribal,  Subangdaku sports coordinator and volleyball coach.

Subangdaku is actually the biggest revelation this year as it finished third place overall in the elementary division behind USC and the University of Cebu. Three other public schools barged into the top 10 cast is Talamban Elementary School at sixth, Danao City Central School at seventh and Severo Duterte Memorial Elementary School at ninth spot.

In the secondary level, Abellana National School finished sixth, Iloilo National High School at seventh, and Beatriz Durano Memorial National High School at eighth.

Per sport, Iloilo NHS lorded it over in secondary girls athletics, ANS in sepak takraw, Beatriz Durano MNS in table tennis, Antique NHS in boys taekwondo, and Mandaue Comprehensive NHS in boys volleyball.

In the elementary level, Subangdaku, aside from double victory in volleyball, also stamped its class in boys chess and boys taekwondo, Malabuyoc ES in girls chess, Gun-ob ES of Lapu-Lapu in men’s artistic gymnastics, Talamban ES in sipa, Severo Duterte Memorial ES in table tennis, Naga Central School in boys tennis and Danao City Central School in girls tennis.

Other public school athletes also made their presence felt by winning either silver or bronzes against the favorite teams from private schools.

MLO-Visayas organizer Ricky Ballesteros has underlined a salient point relative to the emergence of some public schools as athletic power in Cebu. He said that some public schools have started to “specialize” their sports programs and that they focused on building up athletes only in sports that they feel have better chances of winning.

The seeding systems of schools that prevented a lot of public schools from joining the event also worked well, said Ballesteros, as it kept the game really highly competitive.

“If all public schools will specialize their sports programs, then we can really have a very strong field going into the national championships. With the result of this year’s Milo Little Olympics, it is definitely an eye-opener for other public schools that quality is better than quality,” Ballesteros said. (FREEMAN)