"on a shoestring"

“Leyte Sports Academy, a first of its kind”

by Lito Oredo and JourneyingJames

 

In the place where I came from, we have Phillippine Highscool for the Arts. At a very early age, the students’ skills in writing, painting, dance, sculpture and drama are developed. There is a specialized training and a focused approach to the honing of their skills.

 

While everyone talks about doing this too in the area of sports, The Province of Northern Leyte has already done it. This is where Leyte Sports Academy comes in. A program launched years ago by the Philippine Sports Commission but didn’t gain ground and eventually locked in the safe, Northern Leyte kept the ideals alive and took the initiative in executing the blueprint in its aim to be the first local government unit to have produce the country’s first Olympic gold medalist.

 

 

“The Philippines realization of a true source of sports talents and athletes will soon be a reality with the recent creation of a first of its kind sports academy in the country – the Leyte Sports Academy.”

 

“Actually, we just started the school on August of 2011,” said Neil Barondo, designated delegation head of Leyte Sports Academy in the ongoing Batang Pinoy 2011 Visayas qualifying leg being held in Dumaguete City on behalf of Roel Batan, who is the LSA executive director. “We got the concept of PSC, but not modulized, we do the regular curriculum because that what DepEd likes,” explained Barondo. “Attached to DepEd, supervised by DepEd but the program is financed and supervised by the provincial government,” he further explained.

 

The PSC, then under Chairman William Ramirez, launched the concept of a sports academy under the Philippine Sports Institute as part of its talent identification program and of discovering and molding young athletes into future members of the national pool but was unsuccessful in fulfilling the program.

 

As a start, Barondo said they are initially concentrating on three major sports discipline namely swimming, boxing and athletics. A total of 104 kids under full athletic scholarships in both high school and elementary is the first recipient of the newly created sports school program.

 

Of the 104 kids specializing in the sports of swimming, boxing, athletics and recently badminton, 34 of them are currently competing in the Batang Pinoy 2011 Visayas qualifying leg, hoping to be part first of the national pool and then in representing the country as a member of the national team.

 

 

“This is the kids’ first exposure outside of the province except for DepEd sanctioned Palarong Pambansa,” said Barondo. “This is also the first ever participation in a national tournament outside of regional competition so we don’t expect to win but just to expose the kids to a big multi-sports event like Batang Pinoy,” he adds. This I think is a perfect way to plant the seeds of dreaming big for the kids. I hope a lot of LGU will follow suit.

 

Barondo said the kids are given full scholarships in the sports school that has a unique academic program. The kids had to attend to the regular DepEd curricula and then attend training on their chosen sports specialization.

 

“They are given free board and lodging and other support as an athlete scholar. There is a dorm upstairs for the kids, below it is the classrooms, the recreational sports facilities are fronting the school. They spent half of their time training and mastering their chosen sports of specialization,” said Barando.

 

“The kids are also banned from receiving any source of allowances, that is a no-no,” adds Barando. “Our focus is more on individual but medal rich sport first and later we are also looking into those sports that we have strong potential to win medals. We just duplicated the program of the PSC that was not realized before,” concludes Barondo.

 

 

Although some of the players competing in the Batang Pinoy 2011 had already play in the Palarong Pambansa, Barando said they are not expecting much in the medal haul but rather in the development and of the training and experience gained in the tournament for kids 15-years old and below.

 

“A bronze in a national competition like this is enough. Our objective here is a start of big thing for the athletes,” said Barando, who also revealed that the sports academy hired some of the best coaches in the country to jumpstart the training and development of the kids. But as of yesterday, they have won 6 golds, 7 silver and 2 bronze medals. Quite impressive for a school that started 4 months ago.

 

As part of its seriousness in the road to sports greatness of the kids, the academy hired no other than Athens Olympian and 2006 Asian Games flyweight gold medalist Violito Payla to head coach the boxing program. Former Ateneo High School varsity Edward San Diego heads the athletics and Rose Rodriguez from TRACE handles the swimming curriculum. Boy, when I was observing these young athletes, I can see that they are meant for greatness.

 

Are they the answer we are waiting for the 1^st Olympic Gold Medal? I like to think so but it would be better if our national athletes today would bring the gold medal so as to inspire these young athletes in their chosen field of sports.

 

Our hats off to everyone who is responsible for the success of the Leyte Sports Academy!

 

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Batang Pinoy Games 2011  is a grass-roots development program organized by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to identify young talents to be trained for the national pool of athletes. Mindanao leg was hosted by Zamboanga City (Oct 17-30); Visayas leg is being hosted by Dumaguete City (Nov 10-13); Northern Luzon leg by Baguio City (Nov 24-27); Southern Luzon by Sta. Cruz City (Dec 4-7); NCR leg (Nov 29 – Dec 2); and the Finals will be held at Naga City on December 10-13, 2011.

Official website: Batang Pinoy 2011

Facebook Page: Batang Pinoy (PSC Grassroots Program)