Tuesday, February 12, 2008 DepEd to impose stricter selection of Palaro bets By Marianne Saberon-Abalayan
CITY OF MATI, Davao Oriental -- Not all Davao Regional Athletic Association (Davraa) Meet 2008 winners here will get to play in the Palarong Pambansa set in April in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
This was the firm declaration of Department of Education (DepEd) regional director Susanna Teresa Estigoy during a press conference at Casa Rosa here Sunday.
"We will be stricter in our selection of qualified athletes for the Palaro. It will not be the usual thing of getting at least five athletes from the winning Davraa team in a particular sports event and then get another crack of players from other non-winning delegation teams," Estigoy said.
She said they have a selection committee comprising of the tournament managers, coaches, trainers, and officials to scrutinize the athletes.
"We will not just send anybody to the Palaro. Even a Davraa winner needs to meet Palaro standards to be able to make it to the Palaro-bound Davraa contingent. We talked about this during our solidarity meeting with the technical officials early this morning," Estigoy told Sun.Star Davao later in an interview.
This way, Estigoy said, would help ensure Davraa come up with a better finish in the 2008 Palaro unlike in the past editions where it usually lands sixth, seventh, or eighth over-all in the national sports event for elementary and secondary athletes.
Felipe Non Jr., who is part of the selection committee, said they had set criteria for an athlete or coach to make it to the cut.
"For example, in basketball, a player will be judged according to the percentage of his shooting, defensive rebound, assists and skills, among others. It would be easier to select athletes in individual events like swimming or athletics through their speed," he said.
Estigoy likewise said they wouldn't send any team or athlete where Davraa doesn't have a strong chance to make a good finish or win a medal in the Palaro.
She said all selected athletes will have another duration of training in preparation for the Palaro, but the training venue will have yet to be finalized.
