LAGAWE, IFUGAO – – Governor Jerry Dalipog, assistant schools division superintendent Virginia Amogan-Batan and division schools officer Juanito Palawan Jr. started rallying around Ifugao’s victorious athletes from the just-concluded provincial sports meet in Kiangan when others couldn’t make such move. They started to get a pretty good following from that.
For this year’s Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) Meet in La Trinidad, Benguet, Ifugao is sending a contingent of 534 athletes. They are competing in the meet’s 26 events in the primary and secondary levels. The province is not contesting, the football (secondary for female) and softball (elementary) events. Ifugao is also fielding entries in the paragames.
Accompanying them are 94 coaches, 136 officials, technical working group personnel and municipal and provincial officials.
Apart from Ifugao, CARAA gathers promising competitors from Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Kalinga and Mountain Province as well as Baguio City and Tabuk City. Venues are special across the picturesque town of La Trinidad, principally at Wangal village.
About 5,000 athletes from the region are expected to contest for honors and ultimately for gold medalist- winners are likely to book tickets for the Palarong Pambansa (Natioanl games) in a Mindanao province.
Ifugao grabbed 27 gold medals for a fourth place finish in the last CARAA meet.
Ifugao is pinning it’s hopes to dominate in wushu, wrestling, weightlifting and boxing.
“Sports development should go hand-in-hand with economic development, elevating the standard of living,” Governor Dalipog stresses.
“We do not go to CARAA just to play with our neighbors in the Cordillera region. We want them to inspire and motivate our young people develop their potentials to the fullest” he added.
“The underlying fundamental of sending the province’s so-called ‘cream of the crop’ in the field of sports remains strong. We are seeing continued enthusiasm of the youth in taking part of the CARAA,” Batan told the ZigZag Weekly.
And Governor Dalipog, Padawan emphasized the voice of the youth.
“These kinds of action clearly indicate that the education department and Governpr Dalipog really care about the well-being of our young learners,” Padawan motioned.
Also, he declared: “Taking pride in bringing our athletes to the regional stage, the Ifugao division office has defined itself to be a pillar in developing their all-important talents and skills on a positive note.”
The chief architect of the mammoth Ifugao Sports Complex (ISC). The ISC aims to transform the province into a preferred sports hub and tourism destination in the CAR. It also positions itself not just for major sports gatherings, but as a holistic destination for Trade and Cultural activities.
Governor Dalipog, also the regional development council chairman has set a strategic roadmap for the next two years as part of his vision to modernize sports facilities in the province.
It’s fair to say that Ifugao is still facing the same problems all over again. Outdated perceptions have perpetuated by stupid folks erroneous and harmful notion that it’s “okay not to be ok- to be the whopping boys and girls” in the region, and mentally end up in the tail-end of the medals ranking.
At the end of the day, developing a viable sports program beyond dismal performance entails leadership that thinks and acts over and above one’s “comfort zone.”
The endless push for changes in the sports program is seen as an impetus to obtain good result. The call for increased funding, acquisition of new equipment, longer training and better food for CARAA- bound athletes remains relevant in the stride toward ensuring a respectable finish in this prestige-laden competition.
Increasing the present Php 7.2 million CARAA budget significantly more for food, incentives and trainers/coaches allowance would be a good way to start. As the Ifugao athlete performance improves, the governor will be glad he did! There are things that the said athlete cannot achieve such as winning the gold, silver and bronze medal with a shoestring budget. Lessons learn: Baguio City and host Benguet are undergoing a transformation- end to-end evolution of reinventing sports program for their supercharged athletes to show a gem of performance. **By Anthony A. Araos
