A recent series of photos a teacher-friend posted on her Facebook account reinforced the idea that sports transcends barriers as it is played by people of various backgrounds, profiles and persuasions.
And, yes, sports events are played anywhere.
For those living in urban areas, sports events are oft associated with gyms, perhaps, Olympic-size pools, well-trimmed playing fields, rubberized track ovals and other adequate facilities.
The photos posted by my friend, Ma’am Rain Caceres, told a refreshingly different story. Her school, an extension of a national high school, is located in Abaca, an upland barangay in southern Negros.
Thus, a number of intramurals ball games – often held indoors in the city or big towns – were played in the great outdoors – complete with panoramic background of mountains and other rural scenery.
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In the basic education system, the sports program annually held is called the Palarong Pambansa, which is preceded by various qualifying meets.
The school intramurals, as shown in the photos posted by Ma’am Rain, is the core of the Palaro as from the school qualifying, athletes are selected to represent the school in the district level, then the municipal level up to the inter-congressional district level up to the provincial meet.
The latter becomes the screening ground for the regional meet, a pre-qualifying for the regional meet.
This schoolyear, the Palarong Pambansa welcomes anew the Negros Island Region, which returns to the for the first time since its short-lived appearance in the national stage in San Jose, Antique in the 2017 games due to the dissolution of the region by the previous administration.
NIR, in that inaugural appearance placed a decent sixth place overall after Nos. 5 and 8 rankings in the elementary and secondary levels, respectively.
Hopefully, the core of the grassroot sports level in the NIR, like what the photos of Ma’am Rain show, will be stronger this year to ensure quality performance of the NIR when it returns to the Palarong Pambansa next year.
The 2026 Palarong Pambansa, I was told by Sir Dennis Estaniel, principal of Graciano Lopez Jaena Elementary School, will be hosted by Caraga Region – at Prosperidad, a progressive town in Agusan Del Sur. Sir Dennis is a football association executive who is part of the Palaro 2026 planning group.
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Congratulations to our former Negros Weekly Cover Boy, AJ Tibus, who won a gold medal in the Asian Open Schools Invitational Short Course Age-Group Swimming Championship being held in Bangkok, Thailand.
This is the first international event of AJ, a St. La Salle seventh grader, who is a Palarong Pambansa gold medalist.
His grandmother, Romelin Florentino, listed on Facebook that AJ topped the 100-m freestyle and won seven other medals – the silver in 100-m and 200-m individual medley, 50-m freestyle and 4×50-m freestyle relay as well as the bronze in 100-m breaststroke, 100-m butterfly, and 4×50-m mixed freestyle relay.
With the strength of his first-ever international performance, AJ is expected to significantly contribute in the production of medals for NIR in the Prosperidad Palaro.
We are hopeful, too, that grassroot athletes, like those at Ma’am Rain’s school, will becoming promising athletes, reaping a medal harvest when their time to shine comes.
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I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7) | NWI
