Team Visayas delegation head wants USC–BED to rethink decision to scrap varsity teams
The disbanding of University of San Carlos-Basic Education’s (USC-BED) entire elementary division varsity teams and five secondary teams saddened Team Visayas delegation head Ricky Ballesteros.
USC-BED’s athletes and teams in both the elementary and secondary divisions are among the biggest contributors in last year’s big comeback of Team Visayas in the National Milo Little Olympics Finals held in Laguna.
Their efforts helped Team Visayas dethrone back-to-back champions National Capital Region-South Luzon (NCR-SL) in one of the biggest school-based multi sporting meet in the country.
For the past years, according to Ballesteros, USC-BED has helped in keeping the Visayas competitive not just in the Milo Little Olympics but also in the Palarong Pambansa.
USC dissolved its elementary division varsity teams and five sports teams in its secondary division because of the implementation of the K to 12 educational system this school year. Budget constraints, facilities, equipment and rentals were also cited as reasons.
TRAINING GROUND
Ballesteros said it’s very unfortunate to see a multi-titled school dissolve its very talented varsity teams since it is among the teams that Visayas banks on in regional and national meets.
“Most of their teams are Palarong Pambansa winners. It’s such a waste because the elementary division is a preparation for high school. It is the training ground. You can’t produce good athletes without a grassroots level training,” Ballesteros said.
USC-BED’s chess, badminton and football teams in the elementary division are national level champions.
It can be recalled that it was USC-BED which ended the 17-year dominance of University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters in the Regional finals of the Milo Little Olympics. It eventually won two straight times in the meet.
Last year, USC-BED finished second to Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) in the regional finals of Milo Little Olympics held in Iloilo City while its elementary division squad remained on top.
“It would be better if the USC administration would look again into this matter because they are proven winners in sports. For me, I think it would be better to keep the athletes and teams and just provide them with incentives,” Ballesteros said.
He added USC might want to reconsider its decision because sports is a good way of promoting the school.
Ballesteros, meanwhile, is encouraging parents of those athletes affected to continue training their children despite the scrapping of the varsity teams.
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