A FEW weeks ago, a lot of athletes and their supporters--me included--lashed out when Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia pushed for Cebu Province’s non-participation in the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association meet, the last rung before the Palarong Pambansa in the Department of Education’s step-ladder tournament.
Aaah... to be back in those days, when something as trivial as that can get people riled up.
Less than two months later, the Palarong Pambansa 2020 has been cancelled and not one soul--me included--is crying foul. Some things aren’t just that important these days, sports included. Never mind if kids won’t get that chance to compete in the meet they’ve prepared all year long for.
College sports too, especially those held in the second semester like volleyball and football, has been cancelled and some of the players are batting for an extra year of eligibility. That might work for college, especially those studying five-year courses.
But will that be possible for high school sports? Especially for the Palarong Pambansa as I’ve read a few saying DepEd should change the eligibility for next season’s series of tournaments, starting from the Unit Meet.
In the old setup, that would not have been possible, but under the K12 program, you have Grades 11 and 12 students essentially left out of the DepEd sports events because they no longer make the age cut-off. That should be easy, right?
Just add another year so this year’s players who couldn’t join the Palaro could still join next year.
But then again, it may not be as straightforward as that.
For some schools, they also have a step-ladder program in their sports; after this school year’s batch graduates or maxes out their eligibility in the sports program, it’s the turn of the next batch to take over., hence the continuity.
That holds true for most of team sports and for individual sports in schools that have a program. If you retain this year’s batch by changing the cutoff for next year, you basically also add another year for the “bench players” to stay in the shadows.
But for some, like public schools whose sports profile gets lifted by a rare talented kid who doesn’t have someone following in his or her footsteps, it may be advantageous.
However, I think that discussion won’t happen soon as DepEd’s primary concern right now is whether to open the next school year in June or move it to August.