AGAIN, it’s the usual top three finishers for the recently-concluded Palarong Pambansa 2019. NCR still continued its dominance of the competition with their 86-71-56 medal haul followed by Calabarzon (66-49-73) and Western Visayas (49-40-58).
Davraa was at 11th place with 13-22-37. With this finish, many have been incessantly asking, what happened to our contingent? Whatever the reason they might have, it still begs for answers. It seems that our performance has continually declined every year. From ninth place in 2018, we have gone down to 11th this year. While the goal was to enter at least the top five for this year, Davraa dropped two notches instead.
PSC chair William Ramirez has already commented on shifting focus to more medal rich events such as swimming and athletics. Perhaps, this advice should be well taken by Deped officials in light of the preparations for the Palarong Pambansa 2020.
Ballgames and other events are well taken care off by winning teams, usually from the private schools.
Swimming and athletics are events in which both public and private schools from Davao region have the capacity to collaborate and work together towards a common goal, improve on the rankings and medal tally for Davraa. In the city, we have the newly opened UP Sports Complex as a possible training venue for qualified Davraa athletes of swimming and athletics. Davao del Norte also has its own swimming pool and track oval which has regularly helped DavNor athletes. Davao Del Sur also has its own sports facility that can help. It might be high time for Davao Region Deped officials, particularly from PESS, to chart a strategic plan to address this steady decline of the performance in the Palarong Pambansa while utilizing the strengths, facilities-wise, we have in the Davao region.
Public and private school collaboration plus LGU support might make us legitimate contenders in the Palarong Pambansa in the coming years. But until this is realized, we will still continue to lag behind other regions during the Palarong Pambansa.
Notes from the sidelines:
Congratulations to Davao City for the successful hosting of this year's Palarong Pambansa. It was really a show of utmost collaboration and coordination, an indication of good governance and support from all the stakeholders committed towards providing a remarkable Palarong Pambansa experience for everyone.