MATTHEW Vincent Vega made his mark as one of the decorated swimmers in Cebu in his generation as he collected numerous medals and set national records during a career that spanned from 1997 to 2005.
One of his accolades was when he set a benchmark in the Palarong Pambansa representing the Royal Oaks International School in the boys’ elementary 50-meter and 100m freestyle, records that were only broken three years ago.
After building a strong foundation in his elementary years, Vega went on to join the multi-titled University of Cebu (UC) swimming team in high school and college and earn a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education major in Mapeh degree in 2005.
“In local meets, I think I still have two to three records that are yet to be broken in the Milo Little Olympics, and some are in the Cebu City Olympics. I can’t remember them all now since it was two decades ago,” Vega told SunStar Cebu.
After his decorated varsity career, Vega found few to no tournaments for his age group, so he tried coaching as an assistant for the Cebu Bof lue Marlins-UC under head coach Rolando Alvarez. At the same time, he also worked as a college instructor in the UC-Maritime Education and Training Center.
Vega got a huge break when he was tapped as the head coach for the Cebu International School in 2009 and the next year was offered a faculty position as a physical education teacher. Aside from a career, swimming also allowed Vega to meet his wife, Hazel Helmuth-Vega. The couple tied the knot five years ago and are now parents to Max.
“My wife and I were teammates in high school in the swimming team, but their family needed to go back to Manila. Our families were close friends and we still remained in contact through college. And even after college, I would see her when I was in Manila and she would fly here to Cebu for vacations also,” Vega said.
Aside from coaching, Vega is also a tournament manager for some swimming meets in Cebu.
Vega, now 35 years old, has done everything in swimming. But he decided to lie low last year to focus on a new career—a businessman. His last coaching gig was for Cebu Province in the 2019 Batang Pinoy in Iloilo City.
Vega put up a food business named TopWings Chicken and Maxilogan that started at the Sugbu Mercado in I.T Park before they transferred the shop to Lahug.
The move may be fitting since swimmers are known to consume a lot during their events.
With this new career and a busy schedule, Vega said he missed swimming and made sure that he can still give back to new swimmers and tournament managers whenever he has some time to spare.
“I can’t leave the sport I’ve grown up with. There are times that the Department of Education would call me as a resource person to train teachers who are assigned in sporting meets,” he said.
Now that Cebu is under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to Covid-19, Vega and his team are busy with home deliveries since the restaurants are closed.
In these trying times, Vega never forgets to give back to the frontliners. Since the ECQ, they have given food to police personnel, nurses, hospitals, garbage collectors with the help of donations from their friends and family members.
“It’s a sign of gratitude to the sacrifices of the frontliners because we know how the risks of their jobs. Bahalag gamay basta we see them smile with our food that we share to them,” he said.