I’m really happy that Davao City has played host to the Davraa Meet at the Davao City-UP Mindanao Sports Complex.
Finally, the dream of Dennis “Mr.Sports Complex” Lazo, now with Radyo Ukay, has finally came true. It’s actually every sportswriter’s dream that Davao City, the center of Mindanao, will have its own sports complex.
Dennis, a pioneering member and officer of the Davao Sportswriters Association(DSA) established in 1994, has been campaigning for it since 1996 when we covered the Palarong Pambansa at the South Cotabato Sports Complex in Marbel. He was relentless at that time, asking Davao politicians when they will work together so that Davao City will one day host the Palarong Pambansa. Naibog man gyud mi kay ang Marbel(Koronadal na karon), naay sports complex.
Finally, pare Dennis, mahitabo na gayud ang pag host the Palarong Pambansa sa Davao City natong mahal.
The Palaro will not only showcase the outstanding athletes but this will also be a show that Davao City, now under Mayor Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio has the capacity to host a big sports event.
This is indeed a dream come true.
According to a PSC news release, Mayor Sara thanked the Philippine Sports Commission for the P100-million financial aid for the Davao City-UP Sports Complex.
But, believe, with a growing city, there’s will be more work to be done at the sports complex.
Meaning? Financial aid pa more PSC chairman Butch Ramirez, lol.
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The Davao Region Athletic Association (Davraa) Meet is used to be known as the Southern Mindanao Regional Athletic Association (Smraa) Meet during the time when we were using Smith Corona typewriters and fax machines.
I could not remember a time when Davao City lost the over-all title. When the Davao City delegation is present, expect it to dominate and dominate it did.
The Davraa serves as an elimination round for the much-awaited and tough Palarong Pambansa. Tough because of the presence of strong teams from the National Capital Region.
Whether you like it or not, the NCR has better trained coaches and players, and many of the squads have access to well-equipped sports facilities in Manila.
But it does not mean that the Davao Region has not scored big victories before. There were times that the Davao teams defeated NCR squads. Mo champion pud usahay ang Davao uy.
Aside from serving as an elimination round for the Palaro, the Davraa also serves as a scouting ground for college and university coaches who are eyeing the best players for recruitment.
This is actually what I love best with Davraa and the Palaro, the best Davao-based players are either recruited by big universities here in Davao like University of Midanao or a small college like Holy Cross of Davao College or sometimes, they get lucky, they’ll get recruited by the University of Sto.Tomas or San Beda College coaches.
A lot of our Davao athletes will really do their best in the Davraa or Palaro because this will be their ticket to a sports scholarship.
Libre tuition bai, libre food chit, libre quarters, naa pa gyuy allowance. Unya, maka sideline pag panalay sa liga sa fiesta, so naa nay pang gastos sa girlfriend, tan aw sine, kaon sa restaurant (dili na sa karinderya), etc.
We wish all our Davao City athletes the best as they prepare for the big league.
We congratulate our Davao City officials led by Mayor Inday for hosting the event, which is not easy believe me, and many thanks to the national officials like PSC chairman Butch, DPWH secretary Mark Villar, DepEd secretary Leonor Briones, Congressman Sid Ungab, UP Min officials and all other supporters including the media.
Davao City has built a reputation for offering Mindanaoans peace and order, awesome business climate, lovely universities and colleges and finally, as the years go on, we will soon be a sports mecca in the BIMP-EAGA region.
Sports pa more!
