Thursday, June 05, 2008
Dancesport can bring home Olympic gold medal: Tomas
MAYOR Tomas Osmeña dreams of an Olympic gold medal for the country, courtesy of Cebu City, particularly from its dancesport team.
And with the way Team Cebu City (TCC) mentors are gaining experience and medals abroad, the mayor has never been more optimistic.
“We have this great ambition of winning the Olympic gold medal in the future. That’s just a matter of time for dancesport to become an Olympic sport. It is already in the Asian games,” he said.
Yesterday, he announced that Ricca Alix, wife of City Councilor Christopher Alix, and Eleanor Hayco, both considered TCC pillars, won golds in the United Kingdom (UK).
He, however, could not help but also use the achievement in attacking the Provincial Government.
‘Different’ dancesport
“We should be proud of the fact that we are the only local government unit that has a dancesport team. The Province has, but they’re all prisoners,” the mayor said.
In a separate interview, Councilor Alix said he received a message the other day that Ricca won two gold medals while Hayco had one in Blackpool, UK.
He said a select few from TCC, using their own funds, went to UK last May 16 to compete in dancesport contests and learn new steps in five places there.
Of the five places the team went to, the councilor said Blackpool was particularly important because it is where dancesport champions from all over the world strut their stuff.
“If this was golf, that’s the masters, and they won. And we are very proud,” Osmeña said.
He mentioned the successful mentoring of over 2,000 children from the City’s 80 barangays by TCC members in the recently concluded summer dancesport program.
City’s support
The mayor said that as young as five-year-olds participated and displayed supreme confidence in the dance routines.
“In 10 years, they will be 15-year-olds, and dancing for already 10 years,” he said.
The City has been subsidizing the TCC.
Councilor Alix said that more than gaining experience through the competition, the TCC team wanted to learn something new that they could impart to Cebuano enthusiasts.
“They also share what they have learned but they also have foreign instructors, from Australia, for example. And they spend their own money for this,” he said. (RHM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 5, 2008 issue)
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