DAVAO City's sepak takraw team will try to live up to its billing as one of the teams to beat in the country when they compete in the 2015 Philippine Olympic Committee-Philippine Sports Commission National Games slated July 2 to 6 in Manila.
University of Mindanao's sepak takraw coach Grendel Ilogon, in Thursday's Davao Sportswriters Association Forum at The Annex events center of SM City Davao, said Davao Region had been sweeping medals in the Private Schools Athletic Association Games since 2007.
He said that his team composed of Alexis Bravo, John Philipp Montera, Lemuel Ilogon, Joel Libaton and Jeapril Dalhog are the same players who were pitted in the past competitions that they entered in including the silver medal finish in the 8th BIMP-Eaga Friendship Games held last December in Labuan, Malaysia.
The former national player said in the vernacular, "The national team calls us asking if we will compete. It is because we have already played them before and our players were still first timers back then. But now we already have exposure to national and international competitions."
Ilogon said he is implementing international level training on his players.
"I am not a traditional coach. What I do is I utilize the latest trends in the training programs. I usually chat with trainers from Thailand, now No. 1 in Asia. I then them ask about their training programs so that we could also use some of their methods to improve our players here," Ilogon said.
He added that there is no let up in their training since they still practice even during the off-season where they focus on strength and conditioning since the sport demands a great deal of athleticism.
Ilogon then thanked the Sports Development Division of the City Mayor's Office for their support and the team vowed to win the PNG title and bring honor to the city.