Calaidescope World

Pump up the Animo!

Congatulations to Coach Boris Aldeguer (DLS-Z, 1992) and the La Salle Junior Archers who recently won the UAAP Men's Junior Basketball Championship!

Conversely, I find it extremely unfair (and that is an understatement) that the success of other athletic teams are not celebrated with even half of the enthusiaism seemingly reserved for men's basketball. I didn't realise that the Lady Junior Archers were something like 5-time WNCAA champions. Why were we never invited to celebrate their success? Both the Grade School and High School Swimming Teams have won several inter-school tournaments over the years, as well, and quite a number have made it to the national team and competed internationally. No party for them.

No one congratulated my team mates and I whenever we won a swimming competition in High School and College. The most I ever got was a little glass plaque congratulating me for being one of the athletes whose team won in the 1992 UAAP (that was the year when DLSU was the overall UAAP Champion). I never won an individual event and was never a fantastic swimmer, but I did swim alongside some of the country's best. They weren't given a party, either. My classmate Hochi pointed out that DLS-Z did not celebrate the men's football team's winning the national championship back in High School. Many of our footballers competed in the Gothia Cup. If I'm not mistaken, Tats was recognised as one of the best goalees around. In fact, I clearly remember DLS-Z having the country's best baseball, football, swimming, and volleyball teams, and none of us got a big party at the gym with alumni bringing five kegs of beer and parents preparing lechon.

Apparently, a couple of my schoolmates are setting up a basketball scholarship for Zobel. But what about a football scholarship? A swimming scholarship? A track-and-field scholarship? A volleyball scholarship? Heck, even a chess scholarship? Did student members of the Math Olympiad receive a scholarship? What happened to DLS-Z1990's scholorship program for deserving but poor students of high academic potential? I'm not pooh-poohing my schoolmates' efforts. In fact, I admire their selfless efforts to provide a basketball scholarship to a deserving student as this is a sure shot at giving the boy a La Sallian education (which is rivaled only by an equally excellent Atenean education. Seriously). However, there are more pressing issues than sports excellence.

Basektball is NOT everything. Sports, for that matter, is NOT everything. Although getting kids into sports keeps them off the street and away from drugs (I think. Hahaha!), there is nothing like a good, decent education. It is simple, necessary, and is the one thing that can "improve the status" of the Filipino today. A good education (and by "good" I do not mean "expensive") will save us millions of taxpayers' money in bickering amongst grandstanding government officials. People would be able to "walk the talk". Can you imagine what a good, strong country (not just a "nice place") the Philippines could be if we only focused on education and everyone grew up to be a good sport?

posted by Calai @ 11:35 AM