Atienza wants to start them young

Technical officials with the expertise on children-athletes of elementary school age have been tapped to supervise competitions in the second edition of the Manila Youth Games (MYG) set April 6-13 at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

"This is to guarantee that the kids are enjoying and learning the importance of sports and athletic competition while they compete in the MYG," said Arnold "Ali" Atienza, chairman of the organizing Manila Sports Council (MASCO).

Arguments have been raised as to the effects on kids who plunge into athletic competition at an early age.

"Competition is not the primary aim of the MYG. As important is involving the kids in sports, making them enjoy what they do, and instill in their minds the spirit of competition," said Mayor Lito Atienza.

"With the experience and expertise these technical officials have, we are confident about the success of the MYG not only as an athletic tool but also as a vehicle for molding assets of society," the Mayor added.

The inclusion of the 13 ˆ 15 age bracket by the MASCO in this year‚s multi-sports competition event for kids aged 12 years and under is expected to draw a much larger participation of Manila’s youth than in the inaugural staging of the meet last year.

Expected to compete in the 2nd MYG, which has gained the backing of the Philippine Sports Commission, are about 8,000 children-athletes, coaches and officials from the 895 barangays and 130 public and private schools all over the country‚s premiere city.

Sports calendared in the 2nd MYG are athletics, badminton, baseball, chess, dancesports, football, gymnastics, lawn tennis softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball and paralympics. A cheering competition has been included, which is expected to perk up the event as one of the liveliest sports gathering this year.

For athletics and paralympics, the top official is PATAFA secretary general Ben Silva Netto while Teody Villaflor will be on top of badminton.

The other technical officials in charge of the other sports are Gene Poliarco for chess, Becky Garcia and Atty. Jo Saliva for dancesports, Aries Caslig for football, Rhoda Balmori for gymnastics, Baby Manzanares for baseball, and Filomeno "Boy" Codinera for softball.

Swimming will be handled by Bert Lozada, table tennis by Michael Oyales, lawn tennis by Jovy Mamawal, taekwondo by Stephen Fernandez, and volleyball by Robert Calo. Sylvia Chua and Evangeline Navarro will handle the cheering competition.

Technical committee head is Ariel Paredes, chief of the national programs secretariat of the Philippine Sports Commission.

The MYG, a first of its kind sports program in a city or municipal level, was inspired by the overall championship Manila copped in the third Philippine National Youth Games-Batang Pinoy in December of 2001 in Bacolod. Manila placed a strong second to Laguna in last year‚s edition of the Batang Pinoy in Puerto Princesa.