A winning tandem

The phenomenal resurgence of interest in badminton in the Philippines recently brought two icons of the sports world together: Sportshouse, premier retailer of top-of-the line sports gear, and Weena Lim, the only Filipino badminton Olympian turned TV personality. The merger inscribed inspiring events in the collective memory, infusing such sparkle to the sports arena and lending a much needed reprieve to a country reeling from political permutations at the moment.

First is the Sportshouse Corporate and Celebrity Cup, now on its third year. Organized by Weena’s events management company and sponsored by Dunlop Carlton, this collaboration attracted 20 top firms including The Philippine STAR and showbiz personalities in its 2005 edition.

Second is the outdoor ad for Sportshouse with Weena as main endorser. This was unveiled during the Awards Nite of the 3rd C and C Cup at Ratsky’s-Tomas Morato. The billboards, now seen along strategic EDSA, feature other sports like basketball, boxing, volleyball, and tennis. They will hopefully remind passers-by of the premium given to sports development by stakeholders in the country.

It should be noted that Lim also served in the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) in 2000 when she was only 30 years old, the youngest ever commissioner of the PSC. Her idealism made her a Sisyphus at the service, forever to toil at pushing the proverbial rock up the summit. She also appears over RPN 9 and Solar Sports on cable as segment host of the Philippine Badminton Tournament.

Third is the conferment of awards to both parties: Sportshouse as Retailer of the Year, as awarded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) and Weena , as the First Filipino Olympian in badminton. Even Lim found it mind-boggling that she qualified for the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia. Says she of the history-making feat: "It’s the one moment you won’t exchange for anything in the world."

Sportshouse which has around 30 outlets nationwide is at the forefront of sports development in the country, true to its corporate vision of improving the lives of the people and the nation through the Greek ideal of "sound mind in a sound body." It has been backing volleyball with V-League, darts with Darterong Pinoy and basketball by participating and winning in the Burlington-PRA Friendship Cup for the past three years.

Recently, it staged the grandest sale cum sports clinics at the activity center of Market Market at The Fort in Taguig City. Dubbed Sportstacle, mall shoppers enjoyed the three-day event which had the biggest brands on sale, martial arts demos and cage-darts-badminton clinics with famous sports stars like Alvin Patrimonio, Mark Caguioa, Norman Black and Japoy Lizardo participating.

Not resting on its laurels, Sportshouse is co-sponsoring the soon to be launched Philippine Advocacy League, a tournament featuring 60 teams carrying advocacies playing in 60 venues with cagers ages six to 60 in six conferences according to Roy Ordiales, marketing manager of the multi-awarded retail chain. "Promoting advocacies such as "Clean and Green" and "I was Droga" through sports is a project we should all support," says Ordiales.

The league is a brainchild of TEAMSPORTS, a division of Total Events and Athlete Management (TEAM), Inc. and Sportshouse is glad to be a part of this noble undertaking.

The Sportshouse-Weena Lim tandem will continue to rally the sports scene with delightful serves and smashes that will sustain the relevance of sports in the national culture. Sportshouse’s slogan, "All the Games You Play" and motto, "Bringing Life into Sports and Sports into People’s Lives" will continue forging a paradigm of healthy competition and physical fitness and discipline among Filipinos.

As Sportshouse CEO Mars Chua believes: "Sports should not just be a craze, but a lifestyle which turns everybody into a winner."