Team Visayas delegation head Ricky Ballesteros plans to widen the scope the team’s talent scouting to be able to bolster the Bisdaks’ lineup for next year’s National Milo Little Olympics that is expected to be held in Manila.
Ballesteros said he wants to scout as far as Region VI and the remote areas of Iloilo, which he believes is populated by talented athletes who deliver gold medals for their region in the Palarong Pambansa.
Ballesteros is known for discovered talent as he actually was the one who found perennial Palarong Pambansa champions and five-time National Milo Little Olympics champions Catmon Integrated School girls elementary volleyball team.
Ballesteros said he is eyeing the remote town of Carles in Iloilo, including the typhoon-ravaged Tacloban City, Bacolod and Samar. He said they might find talented athletes who can help Team Visayas regain the National crown it lost to the National Capital Region for the second straight year now. The Bisdaks won the first three editions of the prestigious meet.
“Most of these athletes are very dominant in the athletics competition,” Ballesteros said. “Even in the Palarong Pambansa, they are really a good source of gold medals for Region VI and Western Visayas. But they were not able to compete in the regional finals of Milo Little Olympics here in Cebu because of financial constraints.”
But Ballesteros said he will do everything to bring them in. “We will find a way to bring them here in Cebu for next year’s regional finals and give them a chance to prove themselves.”
He is also planning to invite more schools from Bacolod City to compete for next year’s regional finals after they performed well in last August’s regional finals.
“We are very willing to bring them here because I know that they will bring more strength for team Visayas,” Ballesteros said.
Aside from scouting for more talents, Ballesteros also aims to help train better the athletes from qualified schools.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
According to Ballesteros, the short preparation for the national finals is one of the reasons why NCR emerged back-to-back champions. But he said there were more reasons, such as the improvement of Team Luzon and Mindanao.
He said Visayas usually dominated the ball games but it was Luzon and Mindanao who ruled the events.
“In the previous editions of the national finals, we were the top performing teams in the ball games. But not this time,” Ballesteros explained. “We were also not able to sweep the competition in badminton, chess, gymnastics and table tennis.”
But at the end of the day, the important thing, according to Ballesteros, is that the team learns from the experience.
“We can’t blame anyone for the loss. Instead, we have to work as early as now on how we will improve.”
Meanwhile, NCR delegation head Robert Calo said they expect a tough outing next year when they gun for their first-ever Perpetual trophy.
“It’s not just the Visayas that we are concerned with. We are also looking at Luzon since its regional finals will be held in Baguio, where there are a lot of top-caliber athletes.”