Cebu Sports Blog by John Pages

An appeal to Tommy, Mike, our city councilors

Let’s act. Now. With the funds of the South Road Properties (SRP) about to enter the Cebu City government’s bank accounts in the coming months, can we get a commitment from Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Acting Mayor Michael Rama and our Cebu City Councilors to repair our Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) track oval this 2009? Please?

The Abellana grounds (as many still refer to our facility) is the lone sports complex of our city. I repeat: The. Only. Sports. Complex. In. Cebu. City.

And, are we not the city that’s envied by our neighbors from all over the Philippines? Don’t the words “Cebu City,” when mentioned to foreigners from Alabama to Madrid to Zurich, evoke a positive image that leads many to prefer visiting our Sinulog and bathing in our Mactan beaches more than any other RP town? Are we not The Queen City of the South, the capital of the Visayas and Mindanao? In the arts? In the academe? In super-malls and shopping complexes? In commerce? In music?

In sports? Yes, we are. Because we are CEBU CITY. We’re proud of our history, our resilience from typhoons like Ruping, our independence from Imperial Manila. We’re Cebuanos.

How many times, in the 23 years that I’ve resided in this city since our family moved from Bacolod, have I heard classmates from Manila, vacationers from Los Angeles, California, entrepreneurs from Makati, all say, “We love and want to reside in Cebu.”

Because we’re Cebu City. Proud Cebu City.

Dangerous and Embarrassing

‘Pushing For Track Oval’ article by Sun.Star

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Ricky Ballesteros addresses the athletic directors, heads of the running clubs and running enthusiasts (Sun.Star photo by Arni Aclao)

Pushing for oval repair (Sun.Star article, Feb. 14, by Rommel Manlosa)

RUNNING enthusiasts who belong to the different running clubs or schools gathered last Thursday to launch a signature campaign that will put “positive pressure” on the Cebu City officials to rehabilitate or repair the damaged Cebu City Sports Complex (CCSC) track oval.

“The CCSC track oval is already 15 years old. It is the busiest and most frequently-used track oval in the country. Its life span is only 10 years but it has served the Cebuanos longer than expected. This time we have to act by asking the City officials, Mayor Tom (Osmeña) or Acting Mayor Mike (Rama) and the City Council, to repair or build a new track oval. This signature campaign aims to get their commitment for the repair of the oval,” said organizer John Pages.

The Freeman article on the CCSC oval

Signature campaign on for renovation of 15-year-old CCSC track oval
By Marigold P. Lebumfacil

CEBU, Philippines – Some concerned members of the Cebu sporting community have formally launched a signature campaign aimed at pressuring the City government officials to appropriate funds for the renovation of the 15-year-old rubberized track oval of the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC).

Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC) president John Pages and CCSC manager Ricky Ballesteros spearheaded the move in a meeting with school athletic directors, heads of running clubs, and the education sector the other night at Sunburst Restaurant along General Maxilom Avenue, this city.

Mike Limpag

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What football can learn from running
Mike T. Limpag Fair Play, Feb. 13, 2009

Hipodromo Dancesport Photos

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At the basketball gym of Barangay Hipodromo, children swing, waltz and cha-cha

Atan and Joel in Hong Kong Marathon

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Atan Guardo and Joel Garganera (at the Causeway Bay area) just minutes away from crossing last Sunday’s Hong Kong Marathon finish line

Cebu Sports Tourism Conference this Tuesday

Because of Edward Hayco, this sport dances

They started with 200. Then, 400. The year after, 600. Next, the number reached 1,000. Each year, when the Dancesport Team Cebu City held their free summer workshop to teach children how to ballroom-dance, they assumed the growing number would stop.

“We thought the numbers couldn’t grow higher,” said Ed Hayco, the team leader of Cebu Dancesport. “When we reached a thousand, then, a year later, 2,000 participants, we told ourselves, ‘Wow, this is big. We’ve reached full capacity.’ But then, the number grows even bigger.”

In 2008, guess how many children—some as young as five years old—have joined the sport of dancing?

Hipodromo’s jive is Mambo No. 5

Ask me to strut my feet, rock my legs, twist my hips and whirl my arms—ask me to dance—and, like I declared in a column two years back, I’d best resemble a bunch of cartoon characters: The Transformers. You see, my body is stiff, my movement rigid and my art of gracefulness is, well…… graceless.

The opposite of last Saturday. What did my eyes witness? Girls as tiny as six years old spun their weaving arms and shimmied their bellies. Boys, plenty aged 8 and 10 and 14, skipped, hopped, waltzed. One dozen, two dozen, six dozen and more of them all stepped front and back to the tune of the Cha-Cha and did the jive to “Mambo No. 5.”

Oh, Mambo No. 5. Who doesn’t know the tune? Who doesn’t, when the music plays and the words “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mambo No.5” explode off the loud speakers and the beat pulsates, “One… two… three… four… five,” who doesn’t stomp his feet and rock his head?