People are drinking less liquor nowadays. People are exercising more.
This is terrific news. The concept of “clubbing” — of leaving the house at 10:48 P.M. so you can start your whole night of partying and drinking — has changed. Clubbing now means going to a fitness club. It means joining a running club. Or, after working the graveyard shift in BPO offices, heading to the gym for a workout with dumbbells and the treadmill.
This is amazing news. Studies have shown that the percentage of young people drinking has declined. According to IWSR, global beverage-alcohol volume fell in 2024. More people are drinking no- and low-alcohol alternatives. Another statistic is even more striking: a Gallup analysis found that only 62 percent of Americans aged 18 to 34 said they drink alcohol, down from 72 percent a decade earlier.
This wasn’t the case during the Covid-19 pandemic. About five or six years ago, liquor sales went up. People stayed home and watched Netflix while holding a cold bottle of San Mig Light. We were miserable and did not have much to do. We drank.
Not anymore. Thanks to the pandemic, the health scare awoke the health consciousness in all of us. More and more people around the globe are taking better care of their health.
Running is booming. While running before 2020 was popular, it has become even more popular. Strava’s global Year in Sport report found that running club participation jumped 59 percent in 2024, while marathons and century rides logged on the platform increased by nine percent.
Here in Cebu and Manila, there have been more runs organized over the past couple of years than ever in our history.
The craziest phenomenon in all of sports is this sport that uses paddles and has terms like Dink Shot, Side Out, and The Kitchen.
Pickleball.
Yesterday morning, around 40 members of our Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP) Cebu North chapter, led by our chapter head Sever Mendoza, gathered for three hours to play at Thirsty Pickle. We high-fived, smiled a lot, and burned plenty of calories.
Three Sundays ago, I ran with Steve Ferraren and Adolf Aguilar as we joined the 32K race in the Sante Barley event that started at The Gatewalk (Mandaue). Along the route, we passed four pickleball facilities. Every single one of them was fully lit up. Every court was filled with players. All of them were sweating, laughing, and making that echoing pop-pop-pop sound as the ball banged off the paddles.
This wasn’t a late afternoon or evening session. Our 32K run started at 1:00 A.M. We were passing these courts between 2:00 A.M. and 5:00 A.M.
You read it right: full courts from 2:00 to 5:00 in the morning!
As an advocate of sports and wellness all my life — this is fun-tastic news.
Clubbing? Drinking? Getting wobbly, tipsy and vomiting afterward?
No, no, no.
Clubbing, sweating, and laughing with your family and friends?
Yes, yes, yes.
