PSC commissioner Edward Hayco (fourth from left, seated) joins PSC chairman Richard Bachmann (third from left, seated) during the MOA signing of the grassroots sports development program in Legazpi City along with PRISAA officials. | PSC photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines— The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), through Commissioner Edward Hayco, rolled out its nationwide grassroots program initiative earlier this year.
Last month, PSC and the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) officially sealed their partnership through a “Memorandum of Agreement” (MOA) to initiate the grassroots program.
Hayco, in an interview, wanted to reiterate the importance of their grassroots program as clarification for other sports stakeholders who still have doubts about participating.
“PSC doesn’t have a presence almost nationwide. The MOA created PSC’s nationwide presence with the help and collaboration of over 400 PRISAA member schools,” said Hayco.
“This way, we can help those athletes we call orphans who don’t have a clear direction with their athletic careers despite being gold medalists in Palarong Pambansa and other meets. Unfortunately, there’s no organization attending to these athletes until now.”
The partnership includes PRISAA allowing its coaches to train public school student athletes for free and permitting them to use their facilities as part of the grassroots program.
The grassroots program is designed based on the blueprint of Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo and Olympian Elreen Ando, both of whom were discovered in public schools and were trained by PRISAA member schools until they joined the national team.
“We are creating a pathway, a road map, and PRISAA will be one of those organizations that creates this way for us. Why? We studied Hidilyn Diaz, Elreen Ando Wilbert Aunzo, and Pearl Caneda. They all started in public schools. This kind of grassroots training has already existed, but informally,” said Hayco.
Hayco explained that many public school athletes are currently trained by coaches from PRISAA member schools for free but are not recognized and not properly guided by PSC’s own training module.
Thus, they are formalizing this process through their partnership with the MOA with PRISAA.
One of their key figures who will train PRISAA sports directors, coaches, and executive directors is Diaz’s mentor and former coach, Elbert ‘Bong’ Atilano, who now serves as PSC’s consultant and grassroots coordinator.
“We are formalizing the pathway to develop and nurture these athletes, many still don’t understand, but mahuman na gani atong pathway, diha na sila makasabot kung asa padung ang mga athletes,” Hayco explained.
“Now that it’s being formalized, dili ra usa ka Hidilyn Diaz atong mahimo, mas daghan pa, if we’re able to produce using that pathway informally before and now that it’s formalized, then mas maka produce ta ug daghan, because 400 PRISAA member schools are actively adopting public school athletes.”
Atilano will spearhead the PSC and PRISAA’s program. He will conduct a grassroots summit workshop in all 17 PRISAA regional headquarters to initiate the program in the coming months, according to Hayco.
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