From this Sunday until next Saturday (April 22 – 28), our island will be hosting one of the largest sporting events of 2012: the PRISAA National Collegiate Games. PRISAA stands for the Private Schools Athletics Association and our PRISAA Region 7 (Cebu, Bohol and Dumaguete) will be welcoming collegiate athletes from all over the country.
Fr. Vicente Uy, SVD is one of the most humble, friendly and sports-loving people I know. He’s also one of the most senior officials of the SVD (Univ. of San Carlos). But more than his lofty credentials in the academe, he’s the national president of the PRISAA.
That’s a mighty job. But Fr. Vic, whom I’ve played tennis with on several occasions, has sports dribbling inside his heart—and so he’s most capable.
How big is the National PRISAA event next week? Consider this: Delegates from Regions 1 up to 13, from CAR, CARAGA, ARRM, NCR and the host Region 7 will be competing.
Each regional team has over 320 participants (270 athletes and 50 coaches/officials). If we multiply that with the 17 regions and add the 200 officiating personnel, we’ve got over 6,000 participants landing in Cebu next week. Wow. This is huge.
Events? Plenty. There’s baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, football, softball, volleyball, athletics, badminton, boxing, chess, dancesport, karatedo, lawn tennis, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo and cultural competitions such as vocal solo and Miss Mutya.
The last time Cebu hosted the PRISAA? Ten years ago. It’s about time. Plus, very timely, the newly-refurbished Cebu City Sports Center will open its doors and rubberized track oval to welcome the visitors.
