"on a shoestring"

Updated as of December 16, 2:15pm

A few days ago I was covering Batang Pinoy Games at Dumaguete City; a grass-roots development program organized by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to identify young talents all over the country to be trained for the national pool of athletes.

During one of the games, I saw some athletes sharing 1 pair of shoes among themselves because they don’t have their own running shoes. There were even 2 barefoot runners in the competition. The absence of a proper running shoes didn’t deter them into joining the tournament.

It was a very touching moment that I can’t help but blog what I just observed, if you haven’t read yet, please do visit Running Shoes Sharing at Batang Pinoy.

Because lots of readers and friends were also touched by the story, most of them wanted to help. They wanted to share what they have. So we came up of this “PROJECT.”

SHOESHARING PROJECT

If you want to join and share, you can contact (email, SMS or comment here) any of the bloggers who joined hands together to make this possible.

If you are a blogger, please do blog about this project. Please let us know your link on the comment section. We want to help as much athletes as possible and we want to partner with you.

Thank you in advance for sharing this post on your Facebook wall, Retweeting or putting the link on Google+. Consider this your Christmas gift to these young kids.

"Bilisan mo, pahiram ng sapatos. Eto na yung tsinelas." (Click the photo for the full story)

May we inspire the young athletes thru this small project. Again, thank you so much! *yakap na mahigpit*

____ ____ ____

Updated as of December 16, 2:15pm

For transparency, I will publish here the shoes donated and funds raised and the person/group from where it came from.

Richard B (GSC)- P600
April G (Iligan City)-
Pamela Jane O (Iligan City)- P400
Beatrice G (Iligan City)- P500
Laiza L (GSC) – P800
Kathleen Grace dG – P800
Tet M – P1500
PEX Runners group – P3,500
Anonymous O- P1,500
Melai M- Php1,000
Anonymous EF- Php600
Aggy G- Php1,000
Anonymous Glad- Php1,000
Paula O- Php1,000
Chato A- Php2,000
Pie R- Php1,500
Gabz- US$14
Mary Grace- US$10
Gay E- US$10
Anonymous c/o Christine- Php300
Snails Aquathlon Pursuit funds- Php8,000
Accel Shoes thru Sir Albert A (PSC)- 5 brand new running shoes
Slightly used running shoes from OK OK Runners, Maui H, Reinell T.

WE HAVE RECEIVED ENOUGH DONATIONS IN CASH AND IN KIND. THANK YOU SO MUCH, WE HOPE THAT WE CAN DO THIS AGAIN NEXT YEAR.

But you can also deposit your donation to any of these:

BDO (Los Banos)
Account Name: Christine Joyce Betia (sister’s account)
Account Number: 5100-0393-62

GCASH
Christine Fernandez: 0917-822-6510

Paypal
To: journeyingjames@gmail.com -please tick the “I’m making personal payments” (i.e., shared expenses, rental charges, payment and others)

If you have made a deposit, please email a photo/scanned image of the deposit slip or anything that would help us track the deposit made. Thank you so much!

I will write another blog post regarding the success of this project. Let’s continue to support and inspire young local athletes.

The last day of the Batang Pinoy Games was capped by boxing matches at Robinsons Mall Dumaguete. It was actually my first time to watch amateur boxing matches live right before my eyes, “on the ring” baby.

Daniel Folio (red) vs Hipolito Banal Jr. (yellow, youngest brother of AJ "Bazooka" Banal). See where I am?

I tell you, it was an adrenaline-inducing event. I was on my feet in every match. If only my ears can clap it would.

I want to publish as much photos I can but I think those who won gold are the most deserving ones, right?

So here’s your gold medalists during the Batang Pinoy Games Visayas leg. I would go on a step higher by saying that they are “The Future of Philippine Boxing.” Read more…

It is “inspiration after inspiration” as the Batang Pinoy Games Visayas leg is coming to a close. Yesterday I was able to talk to some of the athletes from three different disciplines- Archery, Judo and Badminton.

ARCHERY: Innocence of Crisha Mae Merto 

I was surprised when I saw Chrisha Mae “Missy” Merto on the Archery Range at Silliman University. I really thought she was one of the athletes’ young sister trying to cheer. Standing half my size at age 8, this young innocent-looking archer was on her element during the tournament. She was scoring high points as I watch the competition. She was unfazed by her highschool opponents.

An archer from Cebu City and Missy on the Archery field

Asked why she joined here, Read more…

I was on natural high when I entered the stadium; the red tartan contrasting the blue sky was a sight to behold. The runners are being called one-by-one, presented to the people watching the events. As a runner myself, I felt at home.

I was taking some photos of the 800m event for girls. Next event is the 100m-dash, as I continually to take some pics I saw a 100m girl runner from Bayawan City, Negros Oriental running not to the starting line but to the 800m runner who just finished her event. She was in a hurry, motioning the other runner to remove the shoes faster so she can go to the starting line.

The shoes exchange happened too fast, glad that I was able to snap a photo:

"Bilisan mo, pahiram ng sapatos. Eto na yung tsinelas."

Seriously, I can’t believe that it just happened, right before my very Read more…

“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.

Leyte Sports Academy delegation, sporting their complete uniform during the kick-off at Marcias Gym

“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.”

 
Read more…