Secondary and elementary athletes from Central Visayas compete in the Central Visayas Regional Athletics Association meet in this 2016 photo. CDN file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — After settling down for school-year 2019-2020, student athletes will now have to test their time management skills as they balance their studies with training and competing in their respective sports.
This is because the start of the school-year would also usher in various multi-sporting activities organized by the Department of Education (DepEd) which will serve as qualifiers for the annual Palarong Pambansa.
The Palarong Pambansa basically gathers the best of the best student-athletes in the regions. It is the culmination of all the hard work the student athletes have put in, balancing academics with year-round training and competition, so they could represent their respective regions in what is considered as the biggest multi-sporting youth competition organized by the DepEd.
The 2020 Palarong Pambansa will be held in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.
In line with this, the DepEd Central Visayas released its calendar of activities in sports for school-year 2019-2020.
First of these slew of sporting activities is the schools’ respective intramurals for this month and August.
For Cebu City, winners in their respective intramurals will then represent their schools in the district meets in September with the winners also getting to represent their respective districts in the unit meet slated for October.
Winners will then compete in the Cebu City Olympics in November representing their respective units. The Cebu City Olympics is the selection for Cebu City’s representatives to the Central Visayas Regional Athletics Association (CVIRAA) Meet or otherwise known as the regional meet scheduled for February 2020. The venue for which has yet to be announced.
Cebu City has been the overall champion of the CVIRAA Meet for 25 years since 1993. Thus, Cebu City athletes have always formed the core of the Central Visayas delegation to the Palarong Pambansa which will be held in April. This is because the regional meet is the selection for Central Visayas representatives to the Palarong Pambansa.
For Cebu Province, they will have their own district meets after the intramurals. To be followed by the municipal meets then the provincial meet which will also serve as the Cebu Province’s selection to the CVIRAA Meet.
Top performing Cebu Province athletes will then join winners from Cebu City, Bohol, Siquijor and Negros Island in representing Central Visayas to the Palarong Pambansa.
Aside from the DepEd organized multi-sporting events, some student-athletes will also represent their respective local government units (LGUs) in the Batang Pinoy.
Happening from August 25 to 31, 2019, the Batang Pinoy National Finals will be held in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
The Batang Pinoy is not DepEd organized but rather one of the identified programs of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) with delegations coming from local government units (LGUs). However, majority of those representing the various LGUs are student-athletes./dbs