CEBU, Philippines - When he spearheaded a multi-sport community outreach three weeks ago at the Sisters of Mary School-Boystown in Minglanilla, highly esteemed basketball coach and league organizer Van Halen Parmis merely wanted to reach out and make a difference in the lives of others especially the less fortunate.
Little did Parmis know that his noble endeavor would become a major sports program in just a short span of time.
That is now the direction it will take after the Cebu Provincial Sports Commission has thrown its all-out support to the worthwhile undertaking of Parmis by launching an extensive grassroots development program to 1,600-plus kids at the Boystown complex, a charitable institution that provides shelter and best education to poor but derserving students from all over the country.
The other day, Brando Velasquez of the CPSC met with the different coaches to lay down the framework of the six-month project covering at least seven sporting disciplines.
As what they have initially agreed, the pool of coaches will hold a series of clinics at Boystown every weekend beginning March 4. Parmis and Jonathan Belano will take charge of basketball, Antonio Abellana will handle badminton, Ronald Remolino for swimming, Eleazar Toledo for football, Francis Belizo for athletics, Charlie Roscios for volleyball and Lezlie Agbon for table tennis.
Aside from giving them honorariums, the CPSC will also provide the coaches with all the equipment they need in the course of their training.
"I hope that we can come up with a good product out of this program and one day see a sporting star out of Boystown," said Velasquez.
On his end, Parmis is extremely grateful for the support he gained out of his simple thing he has done that suddenly turns great.
"I am really overwhelmed by the support I've got from various sectors. I only wanted to share my talents and blessings especially to the underprivileged kids. Never did I imagine that it would become this big in a very short period of time. Words are not fair enough to express my profound gratitude to the Cebu sports commission for believing in my cause and to the nuns of the Sisters of Mary for their wholehearted support from the very beginning. Without them, this would not have been possible," said Parmis. (FREEMAN)