Wilde Blu Yonder
Bernie “Benok” regalario is a 16-yearold Filipino billiards prodigy. He has won tournaments both here and, this early in his young career, already has a pro player sponsorship with Peri Cues.
according to Peri Cues Facebook page: “We’ve been focused on the billiards field for more than 20 years. With years and years of experience, our Peri brand products have earned a solid reputation in the market. We’ve already signed seven famous spokesmen who are world championship level players such as Jayson Shaw.”
Bernie is just one of the developing products of the Wilde Blu Juniors project. Wilde Blu Juniors is an organization that promotes and develops billiards among the youth (10 to 17 years old) beginning at the grassroots level.
The whole thing was started by nino lopez and leslie “anito kid” Mapugay in February 2019. These guys weren’t just recruiting random kids to be part of their program, the kids come from low-income families who have a passion for pool. What nino and leslie are doing is to mentor, guide and nurture these kids, working hand in hand with their parents to make sure they not only enjoy the sport, but that they also don’t miss out on just being kids and growing up.
The plan, originally, was to sponsor one junior billiards player from a low-income family. Unfortunately, in a good way, they somehow ended up with a team of 20 juniors. This development forced nino and leslie to re-evaluate everything, from budget to additional equipment to training and expenses. With good fortune and a sound management of their finances, they were able to provide the youngsters everything they need.
These kids are managed not by one person, but by committee, and i mean by a company, Wilde Blu Chalk is the official sponsor of the team. When leslie and nino set out to talk to these young men and women and their parents, they set some conditions:
▪ Stay in school and you MUST maintain a school grade point average of 80 percent or higher;
▪ Follow the memorandum of agreement such as to honor their parents and stay out of trouble;
▪ read, comprehend and write down all glossary terms by Dr. Dave Billiard. in which it provides definitions for cue sports terms and phrases, including gambling lingo and technical terms. We ask our juniors to write it down by hand because it will force their brain to process information in a more detailed way, which helps them keep everything in mind; and
▪ Be a good Wilde Blu brand ambassador. So, obviously, there’s a condition for them to maintain a sort of a grade-point average, like in the schools, colleges and universities in the US. i think i speak for parents of student athletes when i say that sport is not a lifelong career, you’ll need something to fall back on, and that’s a high-school diploma, then eventually, a college degree.
according to nino, “all tournament prize money is theirs to keep for their own savings or investment. They may choose to return any sponsored tournament/training expenses—in which all fees go back to the team’s training budget.
“our Wilde Blu Juniors has learned how to compete with the best and representing themselves, their families and their country with respect and dignity. Win or lose, all Wilde Blu Juniors shall display the finest qualities of sportsmanship and fierce competition.”
running a sports team isn’t easy so i asked nino what the challenges that lie ahead. and he shared: “The Wilde Blu Juniors team has grown from two members to 20 members, so, the challenge is consistently being able to raise funds to cover the team’s training and tournament expenses such as table fees, meals, transportation and accommodation. The majority of our players come from low-income families and need to commute with their parents to attend our training in Tandang Sora avenue in Quezon City. We have a lot of team members from the rizal area, Cavite and Batangas.”
“Majority of our funding comes from the sale of Wilde Blu Chalk. Since the Covid-19 pandemic and quarantine regulations on billiard halls, our sales have drastically dropped but fortunately, we have secured 85 percent of the needed equipment for our team members already. our junior team now needs monetary sponsorship or donations.”
These guys do their own thing without any press, without any media or fanfare. They do it because they love the sport and they love advocating the sport to the youth. The game is teaching these kids values like discipline, humility, patience, hard work and especially because they’re still in school, time management at such a young age. a balancing act between books and training.
if you’d like to get in touch with them to help these kids, please contact 09154559556 and look for nino lopez. You can also reach them through Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/wildeblujuniors/ or e-mail them at wildebluchalk@gmail.com.
You might be wondering why “Wilde Blu Yonder” as in Wild Blue Yonder? Wild Blue Yonder is the sky as viewed during daylight—the atmosphere and outer space as viewed from the earth. So folks, the sky’s the limit for these young ones and we fervently hope that leslie and nino never tire of developing the future of Philippine billiards.