I was walking my way to the gym from the Military Training Office where I just reported to Lt. Cirunay, then Ateneo de Davao University’s Citizens’ Military Training commandant, when I heard two sports broadcasters doing a play-by-play account of a basketball game, one of the events featured in the Intrams that year, 1990.
So I asked a spectator standing near that big Acacia tree, “Kinsa na sila?”.
“Si Neil Bravo na ug Bong Aportadera”, was the answer.
So, being a sports fan, I watched the entire game but what made that game more exciting was the blow-by-blow account and analyses of Neil and Bong. Kulang nalang ma broadcast sa TV. I wish I had a camera phone already at that time or FB was already a thing because I’m very sure to have that documented when they were doing their work.
I mentioned this lovely memory of mine because when I heard a 19-year-old commentator on FB, it just flashed that sports memory 32 years ago.
I am talking about Janna Cerbo Ehido, winner of the DHL Motorsports’ Fastest Lap Commentator Challenge who was given the opportunity to do what she loves to do at an F1 Free Practice in Bahrain with veteran commentators Will Buxton and Alex Jacques.
She’s a natural, I tell you. You can check it out on “DHL Motorsports” on FB.
Janna also received very encouraging comments from the legend himself, David Croft!
What a talent!
I’d really like to take my hats off to DHL Motorsports, Bright Partnerships and Formula 1, for organizing commentary competitions and giving opportunities to young journalists in the country. It is really amazing having events like this!
This is the beauty of big corporations whose CEO’s or probably, just an ordinary staff member who made a suggestion, would think of having an event like this. This is really brilliant!
Janna, I strongly believe, you’ll have a long, long way to go, and with the availability of “logistics”, you are going to soar high.
When Neil (the “Pride of Mati”, who was just a few years ahead of me) and I were competing in the National Secondary Schools Press Conferences before, there were no broadcast journalism categories at that time. In the later years, I learned that NSSPC (renamed National Schools Press Conference) events have included broadcasting and radio script writing contests.
And to know that this category has been developed all these years, there will be more Jannas in the making.
DHL Motorsports did a very good job on this.
If our local basketball players are looking forward to playing in the PBA, young broadcast journalists will have one big event to look forward to, and damn prepare hard for it.
Congratulations to the proud parents, Dabawenya Joji Cerbo Ehido, who is now based in Cebu with husband Jovi and the rest of the family. To mold such talent is never easy.
Believe me, if only DHL Motorsports organized competitions like this in the 90s, it’s not nang hambug ba, but you would find the likes of Neil and Bong as champions.
Keep this going on DHL Motorsports! And thank you for giving them all the opportunities in the world.
