VOH-PSC Sports Training Becomes A Community Affair

The Visions of Hope Foundation (VOH), in partnership with the Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) Women in Sports Program, hosted a free three-day sports training in May. The training was primarily intended for the CCT-VOH Rose of Sharon House of Friendship Boarding School in Laguna but an invitation was extended to children in the community, and 120 boys and girls from Puypuy also joined the sports clinics.

The VOH boarding school, located in Brgy. Puypuy, Bay, ministers to children who used to be street dwellers. Out of about fifty children who are housed in the facility, 32 boys and girls who are between the ages of six and seventeen joined the sports training.

PSC Commissioner and former swimming Olympian Gillian Akiko Thomson-Guevarra sent some of PSC's best coaches to give the Puypuy children quality training. Coach Gregory Colmenares led swim classes attended by 41 children, 62 children learned badminton from Coach Dennis Orense, Coach Roy Cortel taught 11 children table tennis, and Coach Jarod Hubalde instructed 38 children on the basics of volleyball. 

The parents from the community were at first hesitant to enroll their children because some of them thought that the boarding school was scouting for students. However, when they learned about VOH’s work and PSC’s community programs, they were happy to let their children sign up, and the sports training became a community affair. VOH children made new friends with their Puypuy neighbors as they learned a new sport together and shared meals in the shade of trees on-campus. Several parents volunteered in keeping the children in order while the sports clinics were ongoing. Barangay officials also pitched in by allowing the use of the Puypuy covered court for the volleyball activities.

The PSC coaches said that several children showed much potential. They gave VOH volleyball and nets, table tennis rackets, and badminton sets so that the children can continue practicing their chosen sport. The campus has a 25-meter long pool where the swimmers can continue to train.

Lala Salili, VOH executive director, said, "Thank God for sports and that through classes like these the children can learn physical self-discipline, find out what it means to work with a team, and develop socially and emotionally."

The sports training was held on May 7 to 9, 2013.

To read a related story on PSC’s Women in Sports Program, click here: http://www.web.psc.gov.ph/index.php/9-news/68-women-in-sports-sa-naga.

Coach Jarod leads the volleyball clinic in Brgy. Puypuy's covered court.

Girls each get to try serving the ball.

Children practice their strokes before plunging into the pool.  

Parents and children from VOH and Puypuy community share meals and stories during lunch.