THEY dreaded sports for fear of getting injured. But because of their burning desire to finish their studies, the Soronio siblings were left with no choice but to dabble in sports, particularly gymnastics.
Last night, the siblings — all students of the University of the Visayas (UV) — thanked they changed their mind as they used that initial fear as motivation to single-handedly lead Unit VII to the elementary and secondary gymnastic crowns in the 27th Cebu City Olympics at the Robinsons Galleria.
Unit VII dominated the elementary division with 24 golds and nine silvers beating Unit IV (5-0-1) and Unit IX (1-4-5) which finished in second and third, respectively.
What’s more impressive was 11 of those 24 golds came from nine-year-old Venedict Kail and 12-year-old Euricka Eisley.
Their older sister, 14-year-old Eunie Ginelle, was just as impressive, lording over the secondary competition with six gold medals to lead Unit VII’s medal-haul.
“Nahadlok g’yud mi og try kay abi namo’g lisod kaayo. Dili man gud mi gymnast pero kinahanglan man gud namo ang scholarship then nag-enjoy naman sad kami,” said Eunie Ginelle whose father is working as a marine safety officer. (We were really afraid at first because we thought gymnastics is difficult. Besides we are not gymnasts. But we have to try it because we needed the scholarship. Eventually we enjoyed it.)
Unit VII finished the secondary competition with a 13-15-7 medal tally beating Unit IV (5-0-1) and Unit IX (0-0-5), which placed second and third, respectively.