Southern judo

The judo clubs in the Visayas and Mindanao area recently organized the Southern Philippines Judo Association.

The group, from what I learned, aims to form a strong bloc that can lobby for more support not only from the Philippine Judo Federation (PJF), the national association, but also from abroad.

The SPJA has members from various cities where judo is being practiced. Cebu is among the members of the SPJA and next month, the representatives of the various clubs under SPJA will be coming to Cebu for a meeting and the induction of its officers.

I don’t have all the details of the event yet, but the local chapter is now working to put it together.

It’s about time that the Visayas and Mindanao clubs come together for the purpose of propagating the Japanese sport, which was the first Oriental form of martial art that became an official event in the Olympics.

Just like any endeavor, for the SPJA to succeed, what is needed is the full cooperation of its members and for those, who can’t contribute any good to just keep quiet and stay out of the way.

I was at the dojo inside the Cebu City Sports Center a few weeks ago and I am very happy that there are a lot of young kids, who are now practicing judo. These are kids who are as young as 8 years old learning the art.

I just hope more can be done in terms of improving the equipment, but I’m sure that with the recent developments, there would be more support pouring in. Maybe our Japanese friends from the export processing zones in Cebu can help out.

By the way, the private schools should also take note that judo will now be part of the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA), so it would be good to start forming your teams for the competition this early.

* * *

With the interest in running growing very fast, I hope that our local government officials as well as national agencies tasked with controlling the flow of vehicles on the roads and the repair of such thoroughfares would also do their share of making our place more friendly to the runners.

Many times during weekends, I see a large group of runners, who run at night and my main worry is the safety of these people.

With invisible potholes that could suddenly make them lose their footing or drivers, who have very little respect for safety operating vehicles, the lives of these people are put at risk.

You can’t also tell them not to run at night, because the changing lifestyles have made such schedule most convenient for the runners.

I am glad though that so far I haven’t heard of any untoward incidents that have happened.

Cebu City and the nearby towns and cities must find ways to help make their places runner friendly. Running, after all, is a very inexpensive exercise unless of course you splurge on all those fancy shoes and gear.

* * *

MILESTONES: Happy birthday greetings go to Ricky Ballesteros, Obet Dejon, Ma. Cecilia Oloroso-Yongco, Janine Mesina, and Mae Ann Maningo, who are all turning a year older today.

Advance greetings go to LTC Ezra James Enriquez, Christianne Sebastian-Guanzon, Francis Ramirez, Barber Rabor, Mark Anton Masa, and Gilbert Olan, who are celebrating tomorrow.

More power to all of you!