CESAFI OKs U12 for chess, football

The 2018 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. will have two more events after the board approved the inclusion of the 12-Under division for chess and football during a meeting Thursday night.

The two are the additional events this season after the CESAFI board also approved the inclusion of weightlifting and U12 basketball a month ago.

The addition of the two sports is expected to provide young players a huge boost since it is an additional inter-school competition for the two.

In chess, the only major 12-Under inter-school competitions are the Milo Little Olympics and the Cebu City Olympics, while in football, the only major inter school competition for the age group is the Cebu City Olympics and the Aboitiz Cup.

“The addition of the U12 division in basketball, football and chess, sports where Cebu has excelled nationally in this particular age group, shows CESAFI is willing to try new things to help grassroots sports in Cebu,” said CESAFI commissioner Felix ‘Boy’ O. Tiukinhoy, Jr.

Don Bosco Technical College has won numerous Palarong Pambansa titles in the age group, while basketball powerhouse University of the Visayas and Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu are also regular contenders for the division in the Milo Best national tournaments.

Chess players from CESAFI members University of San Jose-Recoletos, University of San Carlos and the University of Cebu have also figured prominently in national age group tournaments.

Also last Thursday, the CESAFI board approved the participation of the Sisters of Mary School Boys Town teams in secondary football, table tennis, athletics, volleyball and swimming. The board earlier approved the school’s request to join the U12 basketball competition as a guest team.

The SMS is one of the greatest feel good story in Cebu sports in the past two years. Its sports program started only when UV assistant coach Van Halen Parmis held a basketball clinic in the school as part of his birthday celebration in 2016. When he saw the potential of the students of the school, he invited other coaches to hold their own clinics in the school and also got in touch with the Cebu Provincial Sports Commission, which donated equipment and also sent their own coaches in the school.

By allowing SMS to join as a guest team, CESAFI sees it as an opportunity to give more deserving students a chance to get a degree through athletic scholarships since there is a possibility that the CESAFI members may recruit some of the players from the school for under-privileged boys for their college teams.

“CESAFI is all about giving opportunities to those who deserve it,” said Tiukinhoy. —

CESAFI Media Bureau