VILLAHERMOSA / MARS G. ALISON
CEBU City trackster Roy Villahermosa made a successful return in the Philippine National Games (PNG), bagging a bronze medal in the decathlon event of athletics last Monday at the Cebu City Sports Center.
The 23-year-old athlete was looking forward to competing in the PNG because it was going to be his comeback competition after a two-year break.
Villahermosa had stopped training and competing for two years because he got into coaching and he enjoyed it so much that he even stopped schooling.
It turned out to be a tough comeback for him, though, as he had to compete with a bad hamstring. Still, he managed to bag a bronze.
“It was unexpected because I had a hamstring injury four days before the PNG while training, and coach Arvin (Loberanis) told me to just rest and ice the injury so I could still compete,” said Villahermosa.
Before he stopped, Villahermosa already competed twice in the PNG and in his younger years was a consistent representative of the Central Visayas to the Palarong Pambansa and Cebu City to the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association meet.
According to Villahermosa, he decided to train again and compete in the PNG at the suggestion of Loberanis, who got him as an assistant coach in last year’s Visayas regionals of the Batang Pinoy held in Dumaguete.
“At first I was hesitant because I have grown big already and I might not be able to handle it, and the PNG was also set to happen then in December,” said Villahermosa who added that what made up his mind to go ahead and make a comeback was when the PNG was rescheduled to May.
He immediately started training along with teammate and another comeback trackster, Ernesto Ybañez Jr., who bagged the gold medal in decathlon.
Villahermosa admitted that he was still in pain when the competition started but his coach and teammate, Ybañez, kept encouraging him to continue, that is if he can still tolerate the pain. The University of Cebu (UC) student indeed finished not only with the bronze in decathlon but even helped the Cebu City 4×400-meter relay team to a silver finish.
Aside from Loberanis and Ybañez, Villahermosa is also grateful to UC coach Eldy Banzon and his friends for urging him to train again and even go back to school.
Villahermosa had gone back to his Education course at UC, and another reason that pushed him to go back to training is that he will once again be applying for a collegiate scholarship in the upcoming semester.
According to Villahermosa, he decided to go back to school because he realized that it is better if he has a degree and he has also been told that he has a potential to become a good teacher.
After the PNG, Villahermosa said he will go back to training, because as a senior, he hopes to inspire the younger tracksters, impart to them what he has learned and helped them to develop their skills.