CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Sports Commission is reaching out to various institutions and individuals to donate old, but still usable sports equipment that can be used by the less privileged, who will take part in various programs to promote sports.
Chairman Edward Hayco of the CCSC said that there have already been some donations that have been received by the commission. The first to donate gave several pairs of shoes that would be useful to the young athletes.
There was also a recent donation of short pants.
Hayco said that the donations can be given to the CCSC staff at the Cebu City Sports Center, who will give the donors a receipt.
This program was initiated by the commission to allow those who have something to share an opportunity to help.
One commissioner said, “there are those people with old sports gear that are just gathering dust in their closets. These can still be put to good use if they donate such to the sports program.”
The commission has started a weekly free boxing and taekwondo program at the San Nicolas gym, which has been identified as the home of the planned Cebu City Sports Institute.
Hayco said that the response of the youth to the free training has been tremendous and he hopes to sustain it and hold other free trainings.
The CCSC also plans to revive the mini volleyball program that was implemented back in the early 1990s.
The main proponent of the program, Jojie Maranga, a former member of the Philippine volleyball team and a Cebu Sports Hall of Famer, has already talked to the members of the CCSC about the program.
Maranga explained that through mini volleyball, kids would develop an interest for the sport as this would make it easy for them to play volleyball.
Smaller balls will be used and the courts will also be much smaller so players could be able to really get the ball to the other side of the court.
Maranga said that she held the program last school break and has some players trained to help her handle the kids.
Hayco welcomed the proposal of Maranga and encouraged other sports leaders to also come up with similar activities.
The chairman of the CCSC, who was successful in promoting dancesport all over the city, said that one thing that the trainers must ask from their students, who would learn for free, is to get them to also share their knowledge in the future.
This was how dancesport managed to teach many kids in the city including those living in the remote mountain barangays, said Hayco. (FREEMAN)