EVRAA 2012 Sidelights

It stopped raining in time for the opening ceremonies of the EVRAA on January 29, 2012.  The sun shone so brightly and the highlighted lighting of the Friendship Flame, the pyrotechnics of the EVRAA signage and the fireworks display went on perfectly.  The rains came back when the EVRAA came to a close. 

The urn and signage lighting was invented by city hall scientist Rudolph Sanchez upon my suggestion that it should be the climax of the opening ceremonies.  It was the tradition of every Olympics, Asian Games and SEA Games that the lighting of the urn will be the biggest surprise of the opening.  We started the parade at 3:00 P.M. apart from the usual 1:00 P.M. to let the ceremony reach sunset.

There was only one reported case of theft during the EVRAA.  It happened at the Maasin City National High School where the Calbayog City delegation was housed.  I was ashamed of the incident because when we were in Calbayog during the EVRAA 2011 we were safe from robbers because of the tight security of the PNP and the Army.  The PNP caught the robber and we presented him to the delegation.  He could no longer return the robbed money so I paid the victim more than the amount stolen from her.  She was a mother of a badminton athlete.    The suspect was a known thief and robber in Barangay Combado where the city high school was situated.  It was reported that the robber has a slight mental disorder. 

It was one of the few EVRAA meets which were not postponed even if the preparations were disturbed by the rains.  The 100 days countdown hit the target opening day on January 29, 2012.

Leyte dominated practically all events in both secondary and elementary levels.  The Leyte Sports Academy (LSA) organized by their provincial government was a big plus factor to Leyte’s dominance.  So Maasin City learned a lot from the LSA, especially from Dr, Lucrecio Calo, the consultant and organizer of the LSA.  He was a retired Executive Director of the Philippine Sports Commission. 

Maasin City delegation was housed at the Maasin City College campus.  It was so secured and we had protected the rooms from vandalisms especially that we can impose discipline on our own athletes.  The rooms were newly painted but there were no writings whatsoever because we let them love the building because it is our own college, financed and operated by the city government.  

Officials gave positive feedbacks on our hosting.  They would want to be back to Maasin in the future hosting of the regional meet.  They appreciated our first ever Smoke-Free EVRAA and those officials who were smokers were able to reduce if not eradicate their smoking vice.  I told them, “I helped extend your life by several minutes or even hours and days.” 

All posts in the poblacion area were marked with tarpaulins indicating “Thank You for Observing Our No Smoking Policy.”  These also include billeting quarters and playing venues. 

Although Leyte won the secondary boys’ boxing by a solitary bronze medal, and Maasin City won the elementary boys’ boxing with 2 golds and 1 silver, Maasin won the unofficial overall championship in boxing with a medal tally of 3 golds and 2 silvers as compared to Leyte’s 2-2-1 tally. 

In the qualifying round and in the semi-final round, all 5 boxers of Maasin City won their bouts via referee stopped contest (RSC).  The boxers abilities improved with the training they got from Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP).  No less than 1992 Olympic bronze medalist Roel Velasco came to Maasin to train our coaches and referees.  Also, our own boxer Edillo Abrea now training in Baguio City at the ABAP national camp came home to share his knowledge to our amateurs.    

Maasin City’s elementary girls’ volleyball team successfully defended their title by taking the gold medal.  Last year in Calbayog, they were also champions.  The girls come from Malapoc Norte Elementary School and practiced religiously everyday until evening.