FROM September 15 to 21, Baguio City suspended classes for the hosting of the 2018 Batang Pinoy National Finals which will be co-hosted by Benguet to augment the lack of venues for the sporting event which also tapped the help of the universities.
So what is it? What is Batang Pinoy? The Philippine Youth Games – Batang Pinoy or simply Batang Pinoy is the national youth sports competition of the Philippines for athletes under 15 years old.
Unlike other sporting events like Palarong Pambansa which is a competition for student athletes or school based athletes, the Batang Pinoy is an open tournament for both school based and the out-of-school youths.
Batang Pinoy was designed or was coined to discover athletes both from schools and those out of school youths who cannot or have no access to education but are potential gems for Philippine Sports.
The event has been around for a few years already and have unearthed many talents in the process. The only sad part is that, the program seems to be lacking in discovering athletes and have not been sustained with proper support and program to further develop their skills and eventually shine for the Philippine flag.
The next thing for this athletes emerging from the event should be to suit up for the “Three Stars and a Sun” or at least prepare them to but without fixing the innate problem that has been existing in Philippine sports in many areas and aspects, this Batang Pinoy superstars are no different from those athletes that struggled to be with the national team and struggling to stay in the national team, falling victims to politics and crappy system that needs upgrade, reboot or re-start.
But then again, as a sport lover, athletes continue to play and continue to showcase their skills and what they can do and hope everything in the end would pay off with blessing.
To all young athletes of the 2018 Batang Pinoy National Finals, good luck and God bless!