CEBU City will once more host the national finals of the Milo Little Olympics later this year and the pressure for organizers is starting to mount.
Visayas head of the organizing committee Ricky Ballesteros said that not only are they trying to live up to the reputation of being the best host and having the best opening ceremony in the national final, the Visayas is also trying to redeem itself in the
sporting conclave.
After three years of domination, Visayas lost the title last year to NCR and this is the pressure point, which Ballesteros said they need to focus on.
“We have set the standard for opening ceremonies in the Milo Little Olympics. And although we will not shortchange everyone’s high expectations, this year, I would like to give more focus on taking that overall title again,” said Ballesteros.
School representatives and tournament managers met yesterday to discuss the upcoming Visayas leg on Aug. 16 at the Cebu City Sports Center.
“This year, we will be holding the games in better venues and we will be getting more qualified officiating. Instead of holding it in public schools, we will be tapping venues with better facilities. This is also in preparation for the national finals, which will be held here,” said Jneil Del Mar, Milo events coordinator.
In preparation for their quest to take back the overall trophy, Ballesteros said the schools are expected to send their best athletes.
“We have to focus on the best teams and the best athletes. We need to get the best aron dili ta maulawan sa atong hosting,” said Ballesteros.
Ballesteros said he is eyeing Palarong Pambansa champions to fill the slots of the events that have proven to be the team’s weakness in the last Milo national finals.
“We have already invited the athletics and swimming champions of Eastern Visayas to join. We need all the power we could get,” said Ballesteros.
Basketball for the elementary and secondary divisions were added to the roster of events.
Ballesteros said he is quite confident that the basketball teams will help boost the team in getting the overall title.
“We have the Palarong Pambansa champion team with us from Ateneo and I believe they will be a huge help to us,” said Ballesteros.
Ballesteros, however, said that with the basketball events being introduced this year, a lot of schools have expressed their interest to join.
He added that to stay within the two-weekend schedule, they will be limiting the participants to only 16 teams from the elementary and high school divisions.