Steven makes Time, Gaby makes Spoon Sports

Two young, world-class Filipinos have once again etched their names in sports history and brought glory to the Philippines in polar opposite fields of sport. Eleven-year old Steven Purugganan, the world champion in sport stacking, is featured in the US edition of Time Magazine and its website, www.time.com.

Purugganan, currently defending his world titles after ebcoming the first player in the history of the sport to complete the cycle in under six seconds, has been receiving videos from young kids all over the world,asking for his advcie on how to improve their technique.

“I tell them to keep a light grip, that you need to practicelike any other sport, working to get faster every single day,” Time quoted Purugganan as saying.

In January, Purugganan, who visited the Philippines for only the second time in 2008, turned the sport on its ear whe he clocked 5.93 seconds in the cycle, where you upstack and downstack the twelve plastic cups in three different configurations in succession.

“Steven hasn’t just been breaking records, he’s been shattering them,” says an amazed Aris Alipon, president of World Speed Stacking Association Philippines. “After he and his brothers visited the Philippines last year, thesport really started to take off. We’re hoping to develop stackers from the Philippines who will at least come close to Steven’s times. But his records wil be around for a very long time.

According to recent statistics, more than 15,000 schools and recreation centers worldwide have taken up the sport.

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Meanwhile, local racing champion Gaby dela Merced has fulfilled another dream, that of racing abroad for an international sponsor.

Last March 16, the third-placer on the last Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition, went to San Francisco to test with Spoon Sports, a Japanese car parts manufacturer affiliated with Honda. The two-day tryout was held March 21 and 22 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. Gaby, driving the TSX Spoon race car, impressed officials of Opak Racing,

Spoon Sports’ U.S. counterpart. They signed Gaby to a two-year contract, along with a female Peruvian racer. If plans push through, Gaby will have five or six more races in the U.S. this year.

“This was a big break for me, to be able to race in the US for a major sponsor,” Gaby told this writer. “Everything I’ve worked for has gone into this try-out. we’ve been raising funds to coevr the trip, just to get me here.”

In December of 2008, the three-time class champion of the Shell slalom series, along with her teammates Robbie Montinola and Angelo Barretto of Team Castrol-Speed Trapp Racing, successfully completed the 25 Hours of Thunderhill race.

Sanctioned by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA), the race is held at the Thunderhill Raceway Park in the San Francisco Bay Area, amd is the longest race in North America. Of the 68 cars which competed, Gaby’s team landed a 6th-place finish in class and a 12th-place finish overall, a hug accomplishmentconsidering the challenge of puttign together a team from 10,000 miles away..

Now, Gaby’s challenge is taking on the more experienced drivers in the US, and beyond.

“It’s really going to be a challenge, since my team will be up against equally skilled but more experienced drivers who are more familiar with the track,” she elaborates. “Plus I’d have to get used to driving a right-hand drive car. But it’s okay. I want to make the Philippines proud. I’m going to do this. I’m going to be successful!”

This from a woman who originally forfeited the grand prize by stepping out of the Pinoy Big Brother House to pursue her passion, but ended up a big winner in both.