High BP Levels? No problem!

For those worried about high BP levels (including this bleacher bum), this weekend’s numbers shouldn’t be a concern, or should it? For those with hypertension concerns, BP stands for blood pressure, right? And we’re all concerned with our BPs right now, aren’t we? Well this weekend’s BP actually stands for something else.

BP = Batang Pinoy. Have you ever heard of this before? Ongoing now is the national finals of the Batang Pinoy 2015. “Another sports meet?” you might ask? Yes, another sports meet but with a couple of twists. The unique and ideal set-up for the BP is its age requirement. The national finals which Cebu is hosting is a gathering of the best athletes 15 years old or younger (or those born in the year 2000) from all over the country. The age group is in between the more traditional Under 17 and Under 12 age groups of the DepED network of sports meets from the district meets to the regionals all the way to the Palarong Pambansa. The BP athletes are those who are crossing over from the grade school level to high school. They’re obviously too old to play for the grade school level but may be too young for the high school or juniors level. The choice for age group was just perfect. It doesn’t conflict with the age groups for the Palaro and therefore gives more athletes the chance to compete at a high level; all the way to a national level. The more games, the merrier, di ba?

The other interesting twist in the Batang Pinoy is that this isn’t organized by the Department of Education. The DepEd takes care of the Palarong Pambansa, its bread and butter event. The Batang Pinoy is managed and funded by the Philippine Sports Commission, but it gets help from the DILG, the national sports associations and the DepED. The games are an inter-LGU or local government unit sports meet. The teams here are from the different cities or municipalities which have sports programs or which have the funds to put up a sports team. We thus have four major components working together for the good of sports: the PSC, LGUs, the DepED and the NSAs. The PSC funds the games. The LGUs compete in the games, while the NSAs officiate the games. When the games take a break, the athletes sleep in DepED schools. Makes sense, doesn’t it? This is in stark contrast to the Palarong Pambansa which is an all DepED show from funding to participation, accommodations, meals all the way to officiating (that’s another long story all by itself).

Let’s break it down more so we get a better picture. In the sport of basketball which is a 3-on-3 event, the PSC funds the games. The venue is the Danao City Civic Center. The teams represent different towns or cities.  This isn’t a school-based competition and is open to all although many athletes are student-athletes. As co-hosts of the event, Cebu City and Mandaue City have their own teams. They face the champions from the different regional qualifiers held in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and NCR. The tournament manager and referees come from the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), the NSA for basketball. The visiting teams sleep in the designated public schools for their region. This same set-up is also true for all the other events such as athletics, swimming, futsal, lawn tennis, arnis, volleyball, badminton, beach volleyball, billiards, boxing, chess, cycling, dancesport,  judo, karatedo, muaythai, pencak silat, touch rugby, softball, soft tennis, wushu, sepak takraw, taekwondo, weightlifting, wushu, table tennis, wrestling, and triathlon. The venues for these are spread  with the four co-hosts: Cebu City (main host), Mandaue, Danao and the Cebu Province. The Batang Pinoy network starts from the regional finals in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and NCR. The champions from these then qualify for the national finals. LGUs join the regional eliminations with the goal of making it to the national finals. At the top of the pyramid is the national finals as a final stop for all the regional winners. Unlike the Palaro or the Milo Little Olympics, there is no over-all team or regional champion in the national finals. A champion or gold medallist is declared per event. In its infancy stage, there were concerns as regards timing and events, but this has been settled among the PSC, DILG and Dep Ed

Although not as popular as the Palarong Pambansa, Batang Pinoy is doing the right thing and should be part of the country’s sports programs for the long haul. I say for the long haul since it does have its drawbacks. Bring a project of the PSC, there is a chance it could be shelved if the new administration appoints a PSC Chairman and commissioners who don’t believe in the program. The event as a whole is a good example of having different stakeholders work together as one for a cause vis-a-vis a “one man” approach. It also gives athletes between 12 and 18 years old a chance to showcase their talents on a nationwide platform. It may not be perfect but it does have a lot of potential to become a big contributor to sports development in the country. Once you have all LGUs locked in with the program, we’re guaranteed to discover those diamonds in the rough out there.

In sports, it’s always a case of the more, the merrier. With a high BP taking place, it’s perfectly fine with us.