68 hurdle Candaba sports clinic

Sunday, June 12, 2011

CANDABA -- Some 68 aspiring hoopsters from 11 riverside barangays here on Saturday finished the month-long summer basketball clinic under the "Batang Candaba Movement."

The Sangguniang Kabataan (SK)-sponsored summer sports clinic was launched last month and was aimed to identify and train this town's youth for possible scholarships and further development under the watch of renowned coach Aric Del Rosario of the former champion team Pampanga Dragons.

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Mayor Jerry Pelayo said the long-term clinic is a component of Candaba's sports development program.

"Gumawa tayo ng sports clinic para ma-develop natin iyung youth pagdating sa sports. For this one, the participants were trained for a month and we now have identified 10 who will get college scholarships," he told Sun.Star Pampanga.

He said those selected will be given allowances and free board lodging in colleges and universities where they will study, securing for themselves a brighter future.

"Kaya gusto ko ma-develop lahat ng kagalingan ng mga kabataan dito sa Candaba pagdating sa competitions not only in basketball but other sports as well like volleyball, tennis, badminton, swimming at lahat ng klase ng sports," Pelayo said.

He said that the funding of the sports clinic came from the SK:

"Part of the 10 percent share of the SK was allocated for this. Others were appropriated for solid waste management. Hindi lang dapat palaro ng palaro sa mga barangay dahil ang nakikinabang diyan ay iyung referees lang. Madalas, nag-aaway pa dahil hindi sila na-train. Dito, may future sila at ang sports natin."

For his part, Del Rosario noted that Candaba is full of talent in the field of sports.

"Ang daming talent dito sa Candaba. Magaling na, malakas, marunong, pero wala pang direksyon. So we need to teach them the fundamentals. And based on my observation, even just in the first two weeks of the training, they were able to observe all that we taught them and they are applying that now," he said.

Del Rosario said starting them young, like four-year old Dale Moises Paguinto, works to their advantage: "Dapat sa elementary school pa lang sila ay umpisahan na para makapaglaro na sila pagdating sa high school then sa college. Like those we have selected who will play in collegiate leagues. I sent them to Jose Rizal College, NCBA, UE, San Sebastian and Holy Infant College," he said.

Del Rosario disclosed that he hopes -- with the support of leaders like Pelayo -- out of school youth below 22 years of age could also be trained and sent to school.

"Iyun ay para makapag-aral din sila," he added.