Thursday, October 12, 2006 Wenceslao: Justin Junio’s swim By Bong Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
Before five-year-old Justin Junio conquered Cebu’s Mactan Channel, there was seven-year-old Braxton Bilbrey. When Justin swam, his father, retired Air force colonel Florencio Junio apparently had at the back of his mind the feat of Bilbrey, currently the youngest person to swim from the famed Alcatraz to San Francisco’s Aquatic Park.
For those who have not seen the movie, Alcatraz was once a federal prison where the United State’s infamous criminals like Chicago mobster Al Capone was jailed. It was supposed to be impregnable until some daring inmates succeeded in fleeing from it. The place now attracts about a million visitors a year and is the site of an annual triathlon.
Unlike the Mactan Channel, San Francisco Bay is cold, although the former is murky in many parts, which should be a more formidable challenge. Bilbrey, fueled by several slices of pizza, according to reports, swam, in May this year, the little more than two kilometers span in 47 minutes. Justin, though, swam longer: almost six kilometers.
I saw the Junios being interviewed by GMA’s “24 Oras” and heard Florencio say they might aim for Bilbrey’s record by going to San Francisco and letting Justin swim there. That should be done before the boy turns seven, or no record will be broken. With the Mactan Channel feat, I am sure the Junios will find corporate and other sponsors.
But if Bilbrey “inspires” the Junios, the boy from Glendale Arizona was in turn inspired by nine-year-old Johnny Wilson from Hillsborough, who swam there in October 2005. Bilbrey read about it in a magazine. "Any time a seven-year-old has that strong of a desire, as long as it's a good desire, you should support it," his mother Stacey said.
Like Justin, Bilbrey would not have been able to do what he did without hard work. Before that swim, he joined short distance youth triathlons. He trained two hours a day, four times a week. He also visited several Arizona lakes. “It kind of seems like a long way, but I’m not tally worried. It’s not that far,” he said before the record swim.
But not all people view positively what Justin’s parents are doing. They consider that Mactan Channel swim as an act bordering on child abuse considering the physical stress and the dirty water the boy had to endure. They have a point there, and I think that should be subject of more discussion. The rights of children should be protected.
Actually, when I first saw photos of Justin in the papers, I was reminded of my four-year-old kid Edison Khan. I once saw him flail wildly in the shallow seas of Mactan, valiantly trying to apply what a swimming instructor taught him months before. But we don’t have a swimming pool and I reckon he has forgotten all that he learned.
I won’t force him to swim. Or do anything he does not want to. I just want him to enjoy. Hopefully, that is also what Justin’s parents will do. If he enjoys doing those long-distance swims, I don’t think there would be a problem there. And as always, I trust the judgment of parents. They won’t target a goal if the welfare of the child is jeopardized.
