CEBU, Philippines — Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) commissioner Ed Hayco firmly believes that a collaborative effort among the major stakeholders is highly needed not only in strengthening the country’s grassroots sports program but also in ensuring the effectivity of its implementation.
As such, the esteemed Cebuano sportsman said it is essential that there must be close coordination between the PSC, Department of Education (DepEd), Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA), National Sports Associations (NSAs), and local government units (LGUs).
“One of the highlights of our national grassroots initiative is close collaboration between PSC, DepEd, PRISAA, and NSAs,” said Hayco in a press conference yesterday at the PSC-Central Visayas satellite office inside the Cebu City Sports Center.
“We aim for a decentralized training of national athletes and let DepEd and the LGUs host, grow and nurture the regional training centers since 80 percent of national coaches and athletes are from the province anyway,” added the former Cebu City Sports Commission chairman and the acknowledged “Father of Cebu dancesport.”
In line with PSC’s goal, Hayco said Cebu has current working models in gymnastics, weightlifting, and dancesport that they want to replicate on a nationwide scale.
Also, Hayco bared that the PSC has forged a partnership with PRISAA for its member schools to adopt potential public school athletes into their own sports program.
These “orphaned athletes,” as coined by Hayco, are those who won medals in regional and national competitions but were not able to make the national training pool for various reasons.