Thursday, November 22, 2007 ‘Unregistered’ schools form new swim group By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
TO ADDRESS the need for more swimming competitions, various school-based swim clubs in Cebu and the Visayas are banding together to form the Visayas Schools Swimming Association Inc. (VSSAI).
This organization is made up of swimming groups from schools which are not registered with the national swimming governing body, Philippine Amateur Swimming Association (Pasa).
Non-Pasa members Maria Montessori Children’s Home, Cebu International School (CIS), Bright Academy, Sacred Heart School-Jesuit (SHS-J), Talisay, University of San Carlos (USC), University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), City Central School (CCS) and Abellana National School (ANS) are the pioneering members of the newly-formed organization.
“The VSSAI is an organization whose major task is developmental in nature for non-PASA members and is open to all in the Visayas,” said the group’s released statement.
The group, which elected its first batch of officers, plan to organize inter-school swim meets once every two months to give the swimmers the necessary exposure to allow them to achieve their personal goal to win or improve their best times.
“The Montessori swimming meet earlier this month was sort of a feasibility study for us. It will be followed by another competition in January, which will be held at the Cebu International School and another one in Dumanjug in March,” said newly-elected PRO Bas Ceballos.
With the stringent structuring of the Pasa, the national governing body for swimming, there has been less competitions for local swimmers to take part in.
Sanction
For a certain fee, Pasa requires all swim clubs, coaches and swimmers to be registered members with them. Otherwise, they could not take part in competitions sanctioned by Pasa, especially the inter-club swim meet.
“The fee imposed is not only beyond the reach of the coaches and clubs but also excessive and unjustifiable since the NSA has not laid any program for the development of our swimmers,” said the group.
Pasa charges P6,000 per club and another P3,000 for renewal per year. Initial fee for coaches is P5,000 and for swimmers it’s P400 per year.
Meanwhile, Pasa top honcho Mark Joseph laughed the allegation off.
“It is funny because we have an outreach program for those who truly can’t afford (the fee),” Joseph said in a text message to Sun.Star Cebu. “Saying that we have no programs is a lie,” he said.
Competitions
As of the moment, the only competitions that non-Pasa registered members can join are the Milo Little Olympics, Cebu City Olympics and the Central Visayas Athletic Association, which is the qualifying for the Palarong Pambansa.
The newly elected officers are Domingo Amante of USJ-R (president), Benjoe Gimenez of CIS (executive vice president), Rolando Remolino of Talisay City Swim Commission(VP for admin), Jesse Arriola of USC (secretary), Rolando Sanchez of USC (treasurer), Ceballos of Maria Montessori (PRO), and Ronaldo Manlosa of CCS (Sgt. at Arms).
Elected board members are Augusto M. Bonilla of USC, Niña Dumasis of Bright Academy, Mylene Galo-Bersabal of SHS-J , Imelda C. Eran of ANS, Judaline Garciano and Flordiliza Bas of CCCS.
The technical committee is made up of Bonilla, Dumasis and highly-touted swimmers Andrei Josef Ynclino and Lohriz Echavez.
