Leyte youth athletes sheltered at RMSC

MANILA, Philippines - Now in Manila under the care of the Philippine Sports Commission, youngsters from storm-ravaged Leyte seek to move on from their harrowing experience and continue to chase their dreams of becoming future national and international champions.

An initial batch of 32 athletes from the Leyte Sports Academy – all under-15 – were uprooted from their shattered home province and relocated to the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, where they’ll try to pick up the pieces.

“After the storm, these kids who dreamt of representing the country in international competitions in the future were asking ‘what will happen to us now?’” LSA athletics coach Alfonso Trece said during a press conference yesterday.

Over the weekend, the PSC dispatched a team to Tacloban to fetch the kids and bring them to Manila.

“Some of them are still in shock while you can talk to the others, but you can see on their faces the trauma and stress after what they have been through. Nakakaawa ang mga bata,” said PSC chairman Ricardo Garcia.

Around 60 athletes are still left in the storm zone in Tacloban, according to LSA executive director Ruben Tamayo, and they have also expressed their intention to join their brethren in the capital.

Garcia said the agency will be providing Leyteños not only with housing and other basic provisions but also needed medical/psychological attention. In addition, they will be coordinating with the Department of Education so they can resume their studies.

“We will adopt them and try to make their stay as comfortable as possible and continue with their training. With the trauma they went through, I hope the PSC can help them move forward,” said Garcia.

“If we can, we’ll adopt them all and provide for their needs because the PSC is not just for elite athletes. Who knows the next big star of Philippine sports might come from their ranks,” said Garcia.

Among those who arrived at the RMSC last Wednesday are Leah Joan Creer and Feliza Jane Lenton, multi-gold medalists in the last Philippine National Games and one of Leyte’s top bets in the Batang Pinoy National Finals in Bacolod City that was moved to January 2014.

As with the rest of infrastructure in Tacloban and Leyte, the LSA headquarters, along with the Leyte Sports Development Center, were not spared by Yolanda’s wrath and suffered massive damage.

The good news is that according to the PSC chief, the International Olympic Committee has sent word to its representative to the Phl, Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, that it is ready to fund reconstruction of the damaged sports facilities.

“The IOC is offering to help rehabilitate [Leyte’s] sports facilities. They want to restore the sports facilities to what it was before,” Garcia said.