THE lack of training attributed to the dismal performance of the Davao Region Athletic Association (Davraa) that dropped to ninth place overall at the close of the Palarong Pambansa 2018 in Ilocos Sur, Saturday, April 21.
An athletics coach said, "Dapat man gud after sa Davraa Meet, tuloy-tuloy na ang training for Palaro. Two weeks ra ang gigahin nga training para sa mga bata, dili jud sya sakto.”
(Training should had resumed immediately after the regional meet. The two weeks allocated for Palaro training was not really enough)
The coach was pertaining to the two-week quartering/training period that the Department of Education (Deped) set for Palaro-qualified athletes - those who emerged champions in the Davraa Meet 2018 held in Davao City.
A month-long training, the coach added, is most ideal. But stretching the weeks of training would entail a bigger budget for Deped Davao.
Davraa secondary boys triple jump bronze medalist Mark Anthony Casenas, for his part, re-echoed the coach's sentiment.
"Dili jud ko sakto sa training, kabalo ko nga kulang akong preparasyon. Ambi jud nako magtuloy-tuloy na mi mag-training after the Davraa Meet dili man diay, ” Casenas said in an interview with Sun.Star Davao at their Ilocos Sur National High School quarters.
(I did not train enough, I lack preparation. I really thought we could start training after the Davraa Meet.)
A Deped-backed quartering and training support athletes and coaches in terms of meals, vitamins, training venue and equipment. The athletes and coaches are also housed all together in one billeting quarter.
For medal-rich athletics and swimming, training in standard facilities with ample time is crucial in preparing Palaro athletes. This goes for other individual sports.
For team sports like basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball and football, which is often composed of selected players from a champion team and promising players from other divisions in the region, the longer time they spend training together would help improve teamwork and communication during a game.
A Davraa badminton coach, meanwhile, hopes that when Davao City host next year's Palaro, Davraa athletes can train for at least a month.
"Kulang jud nang two weeks (A two-week training is not enough)," the coach, who requested anonymity, said.
Davraa's 12-27-28 medal haul in the just-concluded Palaro did not even match the 22-25-24 output of the region in Antique Province last year.
The secondary boys and girls arnis teams gave Davraa four golds this year compared to only two golds last year while the chess team bagged two golds courtesy of Aliyah Rae Lumangtad, improving the chessers' lone gold output last year.
The swimming team only copped one gold this year through Juliana Marien Villanueva's record-smashing performance in secondary girls 800-meter freestyle, five-gold short of last year's six golds.
This year, also contributing one gold each for Davraa are the wushu, wrestling, boxing, tennis and taekwondo teams.
But Davraa's wushu team won four golds in Palaro 2017 as golds also came from badminton, table tennis, boxing, chess, athletics and wrestling.
From three golds last year, Davraa's athletics team had zero gold in Ilocos Sur along with the badminton, baseball, softball, basketball and football, athletics, sepak takraw and volleyball teams.
Thus, focusing more on martial arts (arnis, wrestling, taekwondo and wushu), racket sports (table tennis, tennis and badminton), swimming and athletics will help improve Davraa's chances to better its overall ranking when Davao City hosts the Palaro 2019.