Juliana Nicole Loberanis of USC-Bed clears the pole during her high jump competition in the Milo Little Olympics at the Cebu City Sports Center in this 2018 photo. | CDN file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The track and field team of the vaunted University of San Carlos-Basic Education (USC-BED) can now return to its proper playground and execute its training program without any fear of being shooed away from the venue.
An excited Arvin Loberanis, USC-BED track and field team chief trainer, said this after learning about the scheduled May 3 reopening of the Cebu City Sports Complex (CCSC) track oval.
For months, Loberanis had to endure training at home and at an unfavorable environment to keep his tracksters active and fit amidst the pandemic. Now that the CCSC oval will reopen on May 3, he cannot hide his excitement to return to their second home.
“Grabi ang ka excited ug kalipay kay for one year plus nga wala ka sulod nya karun maka balik na gyud kay sugud nag lockdown amo gibuhat kay online training mi for about six months but murag walay gamit kay nanagku man hinuon ang mga players,” Loberanis told CDN Digital.
(I am so excited and happy because for one year plus we have not entered [CCSC] and then now we can return. Since the lockdown what we did was online training for about six months but it seemed that it was not effective because the athletes gained weight instead.)
The CCSC oval closed down in March last year. It then served as the billeting area for the PNP during the height of the lockdowns in Cebu City.
Aside from Loberanis, Marathon Queen Mary Joy Tabal also welcomed the May 3 reopening of the CCSC track oval because she considered this her second home.
READ: ‘Marathon Queen’ Tabal looks forward to May 3 reopening of CCSC track oval
Training difficulties
Loberanis recalled the difficulty of training during the pandemic.
He said he decided to gather his athletes to train outside after few training results at home. He found it difficult to find a place to train his athletes because they were shooed away in the areas where they trained by property owners.
“Nangita mi ug place nga kanang pwede maka training para lang ma uli-an sa condition ang mga athletes but mura man mi ug squatter kay sigehan lang mig bugaw,” he said.
(We would look for a place to train so that we can improve the conditioning of the athlets but we were treated like squatters because they would shoo us away from these areas.)
“Karon at least makabalik na mi sa amo proper playground which is the Abellana Sports complex (CCSC). Makaformal na mi og execute sa training program namo ug dili na mi mahadlok nga basin badlungon mi unya papahawaon sa area,” he added.
(Now, at least, we can return to our proper playground, which is the Abellana Sports Complex [CCSC]. We can now formally execute our training program without any fear of being shooed away from the training area.)
CCSC Chairman Hayco
Chairman Edward Hayco of the Cebu City Sports Commission, for his part, also expressed his excitement that CCSC’s oval would finally reopen.
“The sports community is very excited about the reopening of the track oval. Specially the athletes who needs to continue training for games that will be held within the year. But more importantly, the sports center is place they call home. And it really feels good, to be back home!,” said Hayco.
CCSC’s facilities served as one of the sports commission’s training facilities for their grassroots training program and sporting events. Hayco set the Guinness World Records in the biggest Dance Class, the biggest chess tournament, and the biggest arnis classes in the world in CCSC.
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