I AM certainly glad I made the trip to Angeles, Pampanga last week for the National Grassroots Sports Summit Workshop.

Held at the Angeles University Foundation (AUF) Sports Center, the event attracted 42 groups coming from LGU’ and schools mostly from Region 3, and I believe they all went home with the belief that the concerns they raised will be addressed.

Me, my main concern is for grassroots sports to start its real growth on a national level following the partnership between the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Private Schools Athletic Association to promote this aspect of sports development that is talked of more often than acted on.

I went there with PSC Commissioner Fritz Gaston last Thursday afternoon together with Dr. Raymundo Lapating, one of the key speakers who shared the success story of Ilo ilo City’s grassroots initiatives.

Comm. Ed Hayco made the trip earlier with Prof. Elbert Atilano Sr. who is the PRISAA National Executive Director and the PSC Consultant of Comm. Hayco on his national grassroots program. And I need to give credit to Comm. Hayco for his unwavering efforts on this matter.

Jeffrey Jervoso, Athletic Director of the AUF brought the group for dinner at Mila’s, a landmark restaurant in Angeles, known for its crispy pata among others, now I know why.

I also learned later that AUF has produced the likes of Ivy Lacsina, Ara Galang, and Kyle Negrito, all established star players in the Premiere Volleyball League (PVL)

The following morning, we went to the venue and found out PSC Chairnan Dickie Bachmann was already there, breakfast was equally good and soon, the summit began with PRISAA Region 3 President Abraham Cruz opening it, citing the need to strengthen the linkages between primary partners PSC and the PRISAA, together with other stakeholders like schools and the LGUs.

On his part, Chairman Dickie promised to advance the country’s grassroots sports in partnership with the PRISAA , and moving forward, the State Collleges and Universities Athletic Association( SCUAA), providing the needed recognition and authority to these recognized major school groups.

Lending its support to this grassroots sports initiatives is the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), represented there by Dr. Lora Yusi, newly-appointed CHED Regional Director.

I agree with the point raised that in most cases in the provinces, there are no real grassroots programs but rather inter barangay basketball tournaments, coupled maybe with volleyball.

Which is why these summits are important and one of the biggest take-away for the participants was the list of laws and other legal foundations that not only mandate the promotion of sports and physical fitness by all government agencies but also the avenues of possible funding for LGUs.

I was impressed by Dr. Lapating’s very logical foundations that he established when he helped the provincial government of Ilo -ilo in putting up a Sports Council, that in turn came up with an integrated and well coordinated program that included coming up with local ordinances and prioritizing which sports to develop.

And I was equally impressed when Prof. Atilano shared his story of how the Universidad de Zamboanga pieced together a grassroots to elite level program, particularly on weightlifting.

I did not know how big a role he played in developing Hidilyn Diaz, spending his own money to help his athlete reach her gold medal finish in the 2020 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, using science to identify the factors needed to transform Hidilyn abd other local athletes into world class level and champion athletes.

He was also clear about the responsibility of the PRISAA to help train and develop local coaches with the assistance of the PSC.

Before he left, Chairman Dickie initiated an open forum with the participants to identify their needs and concerns, common of which is the need to train local coaches who in turn can teach the proper basics to young athletes in the provinces., an area of collaboration for the PRISAA and the PSC.

It seems the right path to a real national grassroots sports program has emerged, I just hope all the people concerned stay in this path.

I just want to offer my condolences to the family of former national athlete Mario Castro who dominated the 10K road races in the early 80’s when I was a young sportswriter covering those events. i interviewed him a lot of times then.

I was told he even went and met Roel Velasco in Baguio, heard Mass, proceeded to SM, then went home, cooked dinner, then took a shower but did not emerge anymore. He was DOA at the hospital last Sunday night.

When I was in Baguio early February, i met Mario at the PSC training center in Teachers Camp , we went around the area as I was asking him for info about the facilities where he used to train both as an athlete and as a coach.

Less than two months later, he is gone. Such is life.