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By Ruben D. Manahan 4th Reporter
IN an effort to strengthen the
country’s grassroots program, the Philippine Sports Commission
will put up more training centers all over the country.
“It’s an undeniable fact that
the country lacks grassroots programs and that’s what the PSC
wants to focus on this year,” said PSC Chairman William Ramirez on
Wednesday.
Ramirez said a training center is
being set up in Lanao province with the help of Gov. Imelda Dimaporo
that will practically focus on Olympic sports such as swimming,
track and field, tae kwon do, boxing, wushu, weightlifting, fencing,
archery and lawn tennis.
“We need to give more
assistance to these sports because our focus right now is the
Beijing Olympics campaign,” Ramirez said.
Besides Lanao, other places being
considered as training centers are Butuan, Agusan, Bicol, Ilocos and
the Western and Eastern Visayas.
Ramirez said putting up the
centers will start as soon the PSC receives its annual budget of
P240 million, including P30 million for the Olympic training
program.
“The grassroots developmental
program has a domino effect on how the government will scout
athletes for the national team. If the grassroots [program] is weak,
it’s hard to produce quality athletes. We can avoid the palakasan
system if we can have a strong grassroots program.” Ramirez
explained.
To maximize the training centers,
the PSC will teach coaches, referees and technical staff on sports
education, sports nutrition and sports medicine.
At present, the PSC has
Philsports (formerly Ultra) in Pasig, Rizal Memorial Sports Complex
in Manila, Philsports in Baguio and Abellana Sports Complex in Cebu
as training centers.
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