Cebu City hampered by ‘attitude problem’ of some athletes; Cebu Province shoots for better finish

Monday, November 28, 2011

TAGBILARAN CITY - For 18 times, Cebu City has dominated the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association. This year, its closest rival Cebu Province is breathing down its neck.

Cebu Province, which had always figured in bridesmaids finishes in the regional meet, hopes that this year, they will do better.

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“Like in all the other years, we want to improve our performance. If we can’t win against Cebu City, at least we should pull to within striking distance in points,” said team coordinator Art Punay.

Last year, Cebu Province finished second with 551.75 points to Cebu City’s 839.5.

“We know it is a long shot because Cebu (City) is a hard team to beat, but our expectations of our athletes are high, based on the reports that we got from coaches on how their training went,” he added.

Punay also said they are relying on the Catmon Elementary School and Don Bosco Boys Home in secondary football to raise the team’s banner.

Catmon, a powerhouse team in volleyball, recently bagged the Milo Little Olympics national title.

Meanwhile, Cebu City may have its eyes set on the target, but it had to go through several tests.

“Ang chances for a victory naa ra gyud sa atong mga athletes. Usahay lang, disappointing kaayo kay naay mga lig-on nga athletes unta pero dili mutunga sa training. Unsaon man na kung naa ang coach sa training pero way mutunga nga athlete,” said Abellana National School athletics coach Elberto Banzon.

Values

To address the problem, Vice Mayor Joy Young said they will replace an athlete who has an attitude as easily as they would drop an athlete who has academic problems.

“We want to instill values and discipline on the kids but more importantly, we want them to value their education more,” said Young.

On the other hand, this year’s Cviraa will have a shorter period and organizers need to scramble to find additional venues just so the event would finish early.

The opening was supposed to be last Sunday but was moved to yesterday so the mayors from the different LGUs who attended a Regional Development Council meeting could attend the opening.

That is why games will start today instead.

“We had to identify more venues so that we will finish all games within the allotted time,” said Danilo Villadolid.

There are more delegations this year with the addition of Guihulngan, but organizers are not worried as they expect to finish on time.

“We are still on schedule. It is just a matter of proper scheduling of games. We did not encounter any problems because we have enough venues and officials,” said Regional Director Recaredo Borgonia.