Monday, June 02, 2008 Jakosalem: Team Cebu athletics exceeded target
FOR a city that does not have a limitless budget for sports, Cebu City becomes picky with what events they will have to prioritize.
Recently, the city poured its support on Team Cebu City athletics team, which bagged the overall title of the juniors division of the National Open Track and Field Championships Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Courts.
For Cebu City Councilor Jack Jakosalem of the Cebu City Sports Commission, “it was money well-spent.”
“Through the years, we have always been very careful in identifying the projects where we can do well and we were not mistaken. We need to prioritize sports where we can see positive results,” said Jakosalem.
Jakosalem said discovering that athletics is a gold medal potential puts it side-by-side dancesport as one of the priority sports of the city.
Jakosalem added that he wants to support more youths in competitions because apart from molding them into better persons and athletes, it will motivate the parents to get their kids into sports.
Impressed
The city will be spending P100,000 for the athletes’ bid in the national championships.
Jakosalem admitted that he did not expect the team to win the overall title, and only wanted them to have the exposure.
“Personally, I just wanted for these athletes to experience what it is like to compete in a huge national competition. But they really impressed us because they exceeded our expectations,” Jakosalem added.
The juniors division collared the overall title following a last-minute gold medal rush from the athletes, who are mostly from University of Cebu.
“The credit goes to UC head Augusto Go for his big love for sports, Bernard Ricablanca and the coaches of these athletes,” Jakosalem said.
Subsidy
Go agreed to subsidize the team’s trip as the government’s funding will be released later than when it was needed.
UC’s overachieving athletes put another dent to UC’s bank account since according to athletic director Ricablanca they will be preparing yet another incentive package for their athletes.
“We will give incentives as a motivation for our athletes,” said Ricablanca. UC will give P1,000 for every gold medal, P700 for silver and P500 for every bronze medal won.
Apart from the winners of the national track and field open, UC will also be giving incentives to the medalists of the national Private Schools Athletic Association and the Palarong Pambansa. (MCB)
