Holiday of Economics

Don’t look now but this weekend is going to be one of the longest weekends of the year outside of Holy Week, All Saints’ Day and Christmas. This reminds me of the holiday economics gimmick that PGMA implemented when she moved holidays to either a Monday or a Friday to give more families time to go out, take a break and boost the local tourism business. Did it work? I guess it did especially in the traditional tourist destinations like beach resorts and hotels. As a case study, you can be sure that Mactan’s resorts are booked with local families this weekend, taking advantage of the four-day break.

If there’s such a thing as holiday economics for tourism, we also have the same in sports. But instead of going out on a mini vacation, the reverse is true. More sports action, not rest, is scheduled on holidays. This weekend alone is a good example. While games are a norm on a Saturday and Sunday for many tournaments, tournament managers also use holidays to hold more games. The CESAFI called for a full four-game sked of games tomorrow and Tuesday in a delayed memo released last week. Albeit late, there’s nothing the teams can do about it, although it would’ve been better it this was set way in advance so as not to pull surprises. There will thus be CESAFI games Sunday to Tuesday at four games per playdate. Another two games are set on Wednesday; moved from Tuesday.

 At the Milo-backed BEST SBP/Passerelle Twin Tournament for Cebu, holiday games have been a normal thing for the past four years. The same is true for the Cebu Youth Basketball League (CYBL), the follow-up tournament for youth-based basketball. It is thus a usual reminder at coaches’ meetings for tournament managers to issued “advance warnings” about having games on holidays so they in turn can also warn their players (and parents) in advance. When a holiday is a sure thing on the calendar, that’s an automatic playdate for the tournament. For this semester, this would be August 28, 29, and September 9. In some Catholic schools, September 8, the birthday of Mama Mary, is also a school-declared holiday. If no religious activities are scheduled for the day, then it’s game time for sports.

Also ongoing today (and yesterday) is a two-day football festival at the San Roque field. With tomorrow as a holiday, games might run through the evening for the older age groups. Some of them will also hang out for a beer after the games are over, thanks to the Monday holiday. A futsal tournament is also taking place this weekend although I heard it won’t be spilling into Monday. Had there been a lot of teams signing up, then Monday and Tuesday would’ve been perfect back-up days for more games. CESAFI football games also started yesterday for the high school division with the collegiate teams taking to the field today. They won’t be needing holidays since there are only four teams in the high school division and around five in the collegiate ranks.

 Holidays are like heaven sent playdates for tournament managers since they need to squeeze in so many games within a limited period. The Milo BEST SBP/Passerelle Twin Tournament, along with its side tournament called the SBP Passerelle D-League has a total of 35 teams seeing action. That calls for a lot of games to be played. Thus, any free day is most welcome for the guys in charge of making the skeds. This is where flexibility, mixed with balance, resourcefulness and a good network is a must. Yesterday saw games played at the Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Gym and the Brgy. Mambaling Sports Complex, two host venues who are aligned with the move to bring the games around the city. Tomorrow, games will be played at the University of San Carlos (USC) North, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Mango Avenue campus and PAREF Springdale Gyms. Thanks to the cooperative and supportive administrators of these schools, the players get an early taste of the home-and-away format which is so popular in the pros (NBA and Europe).

The “tough” part about being a sports parent or athlete is that one can’t go on a real break or vacation during long weekends like these, especially when timed within the regular schoolyear. Instead of looking forward to going to the beach or going out of town, they have to get out of bed early, take their kids to the games and put on their usual “water boy/driver” role.

But then again, if you really think about it, these holidays aren’t so bad. It’s a perfect way for the family to get together and cheer for the team. Bonding is intense in these games and the friendship that is forged among other families is priceless.

So instead of an RnR vacation this weekend, make it a sporty one. Sporty holiday economics.

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Time-out: Happy birthday to Fr. Manny Uy, S.J. >>> you can reach me at [email protected].