Young gymnast wins one for slain father

Sunday, November 20, 2011

LINGAYEN—Losing a loved one is always life-changing.

For 12-year-old Eunice Odag, whose father Lito, a security guard, was killed in a robbery at Robinsons Place last September, losing her father pushed her to do better in gymnastics.

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It was her father who got her into gymnastics.

“I just kept on crying. That’s the only thing I remember, I just kept on crying,” Odag said in Cebuano, speaking of the time that she learned her father died.

But after a few days, she remembered she still had gymnastics.

“I know my father would be happy if I continue competing in gymnastics,” she said.

When she was just 10, her father made her take the summer camp conducted by the University of the Visayas’ (UV) Darlene Dela Pisa.

Dela Pisa said a grandmother of another gymnast, Desiree Padilla, introduced her to Lito. After observing the lessons, Lito got convinced to enroll his only daughter in the sport.

“My father said he didn’t want me to just roam around our neighborhood, that’s why he wanted me to join gymnastics,” said Odag.

After one summer of training, she was absorbed by the UV team and has been joining several competitions since then.

Before her performance the other day, she said she was thinking of her father, who was supposed to take a leave of absence to accompany her to the tournament.

“Every time I had a tournament, he always made sure that he got to watch me. He also kept on telling me to do my best,” said Odag.

Odag finished with a bronze medal to help the team collect the needed points to win the overall championship in gymnastics.

“When my father died, it did not occur to me to stop doing gymnastics because it reminds me of him. I want to continue doing it because I know it will make him happy,” said Odag.

It is just a bronze medal for now but Odag said she won’t stop as she looks forward to better performances in the future.

And for Milo Little Olympics Visayas head Ricky Ballesteros, it is tales of athletes’ passion to be the best in their fields despite obstacles in their young personal lives that makes his job easier.

“These kids are very inspiring,” said Ballesteros.

Another athlete, Milo’s fastest man Kenneth Monzon, who admits he is dealing with ADHD, claimed his second gold medal with a win in the 200-meter run.

“Every day when I see him at the oval, he walks up to me, gives me a thumb up sign and tells me, ‘gold na lagi sir. Ayaw kabalaka,’” Ballesteros said. “ And he performed and it makes me so proud of these kids.”

Ballesteros also said weeks before the national finals, Monzon kept on asking him when the team would leave for the national finals as he was very excited to compete.