Cebu City Councilor Augustus “Joy” Young (center) talks about the expansion of the Schools for Sports program during a press conference yesterday at the Port Seafood Restaurant. With him are Cebu City Sports Commission chairman Edward Hayco (left) and Cebu City Sports Center manager Ricky Ballesteros (right).
cdn photo/glendale rosal
The Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) wants to double the number of coaches from 23 to 50 for its Schools for Sports program for school year 2018-2019 after announcing the program’s expansion to seven elementary public schools here in the city as well as mountain barangay-based public schools.
The CCSC Schools for Sports program was implemented last year at the Abellana National School and City Central School following the full support of Councilor Augustus “Joy” Young and the Cebu City government.
According to CCSC chairman Edward Hayco, the positive results achieved by the athletes under the program prompted Young to expand it to other schools.
“I’ve always wanted sports in public schools to improve so we tapped Edward (Hayco) and the sports commission for this project,” said Young, adding that when he was vice mayor before, they had plans for a sports academy but it did not materialize since his term ended and the plan wasn’t carried over to the next administration.
CCSC will be accepting applicants for the additional coaches needed for the program.
Schools wherein the program will be implemented starting next school year are the elementary schools in Zapatera, Tejero, Guadalupe, Tisa, Punta Princesa, Labangon and Regino Mercado Elementary School.
Young said the schools were chosen based on their proximity to the Cebu City Sports Center where most of the trainings will be held.
The mountain barangay-based schools will be identified soon with the CCSC to meet with the principals regarding the project today. These schools will have two to three sections per grade level for the program.
The Schools for Sports is also the reason why Young has revived the DepEd Cebu City Sports Committee comprised of him, Hayco, Cebu City Sports Center manager Ricky Ballesteros, Department of Education Cebu City Superintendent Bianito Dagatan and DepEd Cebu City Sports Coordinator Francis Ramirez.
There are 13 sports under the School for Sports namely athletics, arnis, swimming, gymnastics, taekwondo, badminton, dancesports, football, boxing, chess, scrabble, table tennis and sepak takraw.
However, the expansion will focus on medal-rich events such as athletics, arnis, swimming, gymnastics and taekwondo.
As much as they want to include archery, Young said there is no wide, open space where training could be done.
Young said the School for Sports is a long term program only for the elementary for the moment. Although, they plan to come up with a short term program for the secondary.