Thursday, November 30, 2006 Davao's 6 divers all set for Doha By Marianne L. Saberon-Abalayan
SIX divers. One venue. One mission.
The all-Davao City RP diving team will soon wrap up its rigorous training at Trace Aquatics Center as the countdown begins for the 15th Asian Games diving competition set on December 10 to 14 at the Hamad Aquatic Center in Doha, Qatar.
Veterans Sheila Mae Perez and Zardo Domenios, who competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, will lead the charge for the Asian Games gold-hungry diving team.
Joining them are fellow Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medallists Ryan Fabriga, Niño Carog, Jaime Asok and Domenios's sister, Ceseil.
The team, coached by Chinese Zhang Dehu, will leave for Doha on December 7 together with the main bulk of RP delegation.
Perez, whose bedimpled smiles hogged the headlines after her triple gold medal feat in the 2005 Philippines SEA Games, told Sun.Star by phone that she still undergoes rigid training at the hands of her Chinese coach just like the rest of the RP diving team members.
She said in the dialect, "We follow the same training schedule we had before at Rizal (Memorial Sports Complex) here at Trace. There are two sessions everyday. The morning session starts at 8:30 and ends at 11. We resume at 2:30 until 6pm." Perez, a BSBA freshman at Trace College in Los Baños, Laguna, said she juggles her tight schedule between training and academics.
"Aside from winning a gold in the Asian Games and the Olympics, I also dream of finishing my studies. That's why I need to work really hard because being a full-time national athlete and full-time student at the same time is not easy. I need to train over and over again because I want to bring more glory for the country," the morena charmer added.
She will try to win an Asiad gold in women's three-meter springboard individual category. Perez, who will turn 21 during the Doha divefest opener, had survived struggles and celebrated victories as the middle daughter of a poor family who hails from Sasa.
Her parents, stepfather Zenon and mother Virginia, worked hard to make ends meet but Sheila still felt the need to help her family out in any way.
This, to the extent of stealing rusty iron from the ships docked at Camp Panacan Pier so she could make money by selling them at the scrapyard.
The income and cash incentives she earned from diving were spent mostly for the ongoing renovation work at their new residence at Tibungco relocation site.
Perez also welcomes the fact that her younger sister Blissa is now with the national training pool, starting to follow her footsteps.
Meanwhile, Fabriga assured they will be 100 percent ready as the actual competition nears.
"Medyo heavy training kami ngayon, pero mag lighten ito kaunti pagpalapit na sa actual competition (We're still undergoing heavy training but we will taper off just in time for the tournament)," said Fabriga when chanced upon by Chito Malabanan, father of Alyanna who is part of the RP swimming developmental pool at Trace, during training.
Fabriga, who won one gold and one silver in the SEA Games last year, is entered in his favorite men's 10-meter platform. He will team up with buddy Jaime Asok in the 10-meter platform synchronized event.
Asok said: "Kami talaga ang partner sa team competition except in the last SEA Games here in Los Banos kasi na injured ako (We are really the original partners for the synchronized diving but I was sidelined in the past SEA Games due to an injury)."
Zardo and Carog will see action in men's three-meter springboard individual and synchronized events.
Fabriga added: "Hinati kasi namin ang events kasi mas maganda ang chance at para mas maka focus kami sa aming events unlike the girls na dalawa lang sila (We divided the men's events among ourselves to have a better chance unlike the two girls)."
