Tuesday, April 03, 2007 Pages: Quick, I suggest you sprint to join this clinic By John Pages Matchpoint
THIS summer, if you want your children to perspire, run, meet new friends, laugh, to forget-the-TV, to jump, throw steel balls, and shout the letters F-U-N, I urge you to consider this. It’s not football. It’s not tennis. It’s not driving to the Cebu City Sports Center and diving into the “Learn To Swim” program. It’s not the usual dribble that you shoot 10 feet above the floor every April. This one is a sprint and will teach you to fly...
Yes. Athletics. You know, the original event at the first Olympics back in... when was that... 776 B.C.? Yes. Running. Track and field.
Top attorney Michael Yu of the Michael L. Yu & Associates Law Offices, the Chairman of the Board of the newly-organized Utafa-Cebu (more on that later), explained to me in detail the numerous TRACK and FIELD events: “The TRACK events are: sprints (100, 200 and 400 m), middle distance (800 and 1,500m) and long distances (3,000, 5,000, 10,000 and the marathon), then the hurdles—110m and 400m. The FIELD events are: long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault, the throwing events—shot put, discus throw, javelin and hammer throw...”
If that’s all-too confusing, how about this definition: Running. Throwing. Jumping. Yes, that easy. “We’re open to children who are beginners,” says Atty. Yu, “or those who have just started to train in track and field events. We are targeting children between the ages of eight to 16 years old.”
The schedule? From April 11 to 20 from 7:30 to 10 a.m at the SVD Formation Center-Soccer Field, Don F. Sotto St. (behind Perpetual Succour Hospital). Registration is on-going (fee P1,500) at 254-0504 or 418-7228.
Here’s my advice... hurry!
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The group behind the clinic is the United Track and Field Athletes of Cebu, Inc. (Utafa-Cebu). It is a non-stock, non-profit corporation composed of former track and field athletes who have banded together to “jump-start” the sport. “We lament the fact,” the group says, “that the interest has been waning over the years when the foundation for other sports begins with track and field.”
I can’t agree more. Think about it: Are not all sports based on the three track and field areas of running, jumping, and throwing?
Utafa-Cebu is led by “Cebu’s Father of Athletics,” Dr. Danilo Villadolid. Most of the alumni athletes behind the association were former students and beneficiaries of his athletic scholarships. The members include Atty. Michael Yu (the Utafa-Cebu Chairman of the Board); Alejandro Salomon (president), a Gintong Alay track and field 400 meter specialist who will head the summer program as Clinic Director; Ildefonso Banzon, the track and field coach of the University of Cebu; Felix Taguiam, Atty. Ronnie Gocuan, and more.
Their aim? “To promote track and field in the City and Province of Cebu and to encourage fellowship among the past and present athletes. The group would also raise funds to provide assistance to deserving but underprivileged athletes complete their education. Lastly, the aim is to help coaches improve their knowledge to be at par with national and international standards.”
Utafa-Cebu is brand-new. Just last Dec. 17, 2006, they held their Induction for the first set of Board of Trustees. But right off the starting line—this 2007—they’ve jumped on several projects: next week’s April 11 to 20 clinic, a novice track and field event this Sept., and a coaches seminar during the first semester of the school year.
For an organization that’s only four months young, that’s quick. Well, what can you expect? This is a sport where sprinters dash off the starting grid, fly, zoom ahead, and barrel down the open lane to kiss the finishing tape. These are athletes. This is track and field.
