More parks and sports centers for the youth

Iwas inspired by Rep. Isdro Ungab when he exerted efforts to look for more funding to build more parks and sports centers for Davao City. Bidding is opened for the construction of Toril gym. Another gym is planned for Calinan district which will cost 20 million pesos. He also recommended building small children’s parks patterned after the People’s Park near the City Hall. The planned parks for Toril and Calinan will cost 10 million pesos each. The parks will have features inspired by the Indigenous Peoples cultural heritage. All of these establishments will meet all the basic architectural plans concerning the usual equipment. I had written about the International Sports Center planned for the city at UP Mindanao. We saw the Tagum Sports Center built for the last Palarong Pambansa event.

It is always a soothing feeling to imagine our youth recreating, running, playing in open spaces provided by our government. Youth at play in friendly competitions is a very gratifying sight. We need this to give the youth the chances for character training in competitions and sportsmanship. Aside from this, it will be good for them to develop healthy physiques and gratifying modes of living. One very impressive prototype of these projects were undertaken up by Ateneo de Manila which I described in my book cited as oustanding book for Sustainable Development in 2000. They worked hand in hand with the government to build a park at Quezon Memorial Circle. They constructed a park equipped with all playground and recreation facilities built according to standards set by the architectural planners. They said it was not easy but it was a great dream fulfilled. These students were idealistic. They said that they wanted a place for the children to play, exercise and have fun. We would hate it if Filipino children’s playground will be the television, internet, iPads, and Internet Cafes. This makes sense, I think.

Personally, I have fond memories and experiences about my children enjoying, playing, and exercising in the parks of Baguio City where we lived for 15 years. When my husband was abroad as a government scholar in Munich, Germany for three years, I was left alone with my two kids, their “yayas”, and our driver. It was routine for us to go to Sunday mass at the Cathedral and then go to Burnham Park to play and relax. There were rides in kiddy cars, small bikes, trolleys, skate boards. There were swings, climbers, slides, and rollers. I remember one lesson learned here. I was a nervous wreck watching my kids, thinking they might be hurt. My “be careful”, “do not do that”, “oh, oh, you might fall” had made my kids nervous and afraid. I thought of a remedy. I got hold of the morning papers, spread it wide open in front of me so I would not see the kids as they rode in their chosen rides and hang on the climbers, etc. The “yayas” watched quietly on the side ready to act when needed. My lesson learned - let the kids play and be cautious out of instinct by themselves. We went to Wright’s Park for horse back rides. They were assisted by the horse’ owners. The kids enjoyed it. They rode the boats in the Burnham lagoon; tried using the oars by themseles.

In Pasig, I saw the posts of my grandchildren in their rides playing in the Children’s Park near the City Hall. There were bikes, trolleys, skate boards, and roller skates. The park is closed to traffic for the safety of the kids. The market route was changed to make this possible.

I will go now to the gym and sports complex plans. Do you notice this “only in the Philippines scene”? All Filipinos love basketball from the small kids to the

guys who cherish the dream. Every street corner in the neighborhood has a miniature basketball court composed of a makeshift goal board and drawn lines on the surrounding cement street as the court, just one portion of the whole. Any neighborhood team of local boys will be seen playing here almost the whole day. Yes, they hinder the users of this street corner to pass by. Most often passers-by are hit by the ball causing unnecessary trouble. As a result each barangay had funded their own local miniature gym where a standard basketball court is constructed. Fiestas are incomplete without local basketball tournaments where players vie for prizes. Sometimes I wonder why we, midget height in comparison with taller guys, fancy this game where height is one perfect asset. We should play sports where the height allows us to excel.

Gymnasiums must cater to all kinds of sports like boxing, body contact sports like taekwondo, wushu, and the like. As a whole the gym can be used for any assembly of people for a particular purpose. Its architectural design caters to any sport in the middle area or the main floor space. This is surrounded by seats and bleachers extending up to the rafters. The gym must have sufficient lighting, air conditioners, and exhaust fans. The gym must have adequate rest rooms, dressing rooms, and other specific rooms as offices. Ticketing cubicles, passageways for entries to the different sections of the paying spectators are designated. There must be provisions for peace officers to assure the users of the gym of their safety. I hope the envisioned parks and sports complex of our citizens will be a reality in the near future. This will depend on the agencies tasked to make this possible. For comments text cp. no. 09202112534.