The 18-year-old Elementary athlete

BARRING anymore CR-prone or blind referees, 17-year-old elementary students, or any of the foul-ups that is normal of a Department of Education (Ironic isn’t it?) organized sports event – the Don Bosco College led Cviraa elementary football team is poised to win a Palarong Pambansa title.

DBC, which features some players who are already big for their age-group in Cebu, faced bigger foes in the Palaro and beat them.

In the process, earning twice-to-beat incentive in the finals and an even valuable lesson – you can’t question your opponent’s age since – according to DepEd logic – approve na sa ilang region.

The high school team on the other hand, is on an uphill and hazardous climb. If they are to win the Palaro title, they must all play and win three games today.

You read that right. Three football matches in a day. Of course, since the vanguard for our children’s education – that’s DepEd, not friendster – is concerned with the health of the youth. They have graciously accommodated in the schedule, an hour’s rest for the team.

Perhaps, the Department of Education (Education, Education, Education) officials thought that football is as leisurely as their favorite game of tong-its, you only need an hour’s rest between games.

Pity the boys.

As to the elementary team, well, this very same vanguard (I do like to drive home the point) has overlooked a certain college student and has allowed him to play in the Palaro – not in the high school level, but mind you, in the elementary.

At last, watching TV Patrol has paid off.

Ces OreƱa Drilon, without make up, went off to interview the boy’s mother and was told, at first, that her son was born on 1992, just a year off the age-limit. However, the boy’s neighbors said, “He (the boy) already graduated high school and is in college.”

After a few minutes talk, the boy’s mother admitted her son was born on 1987.

1987.

As to DBC, win or lose, the team should hold their heads high. After all, not only are they facing the other team in the field, they have to contend with the Deparment of Education.

Comments

Anonymous said…
BEAUTIFUL !!!!!!!!
Anonymous said…
bay mike, the elementary CVIRAA football team still has to win against the winner of the bicol-stiraa (still not familiar with the regions) today at 3PM in order to get the twice-to-beat advantage in the finals. a loss today will mean one more game against a team from the losers bracket (quite confusing ain't it). many of the players have bumps and bruises but thankfully nothing serious. usik lang kaayo sa Omega. mag-tukod unya kog hilotan after this kay murang qualified nako ma therapist.

we will be cheering on the secondary squad today. they have two confirmed games plus a third if they win both.

i've noticed opposing teams are using a 4-4-2 formation against our juniors, with attacking fullbacks. they know it will be difficult going straight against tan and mateo thus they are attacking our wings. defensively, batad and sembrano has to go down on defense in order to slow down a sideline attack and to buy time for tan or mateo to cover potential crosses. many of the secondary teams have pretty tall strikers who are good targets for crosses. opponents have been rotating and substituting wingers, i'm guessing because defensively that is our achilles heel. a lot depends on batad and sembrano.

offensively, the abellana midfield and soriano at attacking midfield are a joy to watch when they form an attacking triangle. all the strikers and wingers has to do is go to the open spaces and wait for the thru passes. the flat four defense they have been employing against us works to our advantage if we just keep on-side. the linesmen here still don't know what beating the offside trap is, thats why we have to be very careful so not to waste possesions.

fatigue will be the main factor today as well as trying hard nga dili ta ma-pikon. opponents already know that some of our boys has a short fuse. hopefully we can keep our cool and just play our game.

three games in a day ain't no joke. it has been raining hard all night here in legazpi city. might be the same there in naga. don't know yet if the field is playable. will be on my way there in a short time.
Anonymous said…
the CVIRAA secondary team has games scheduled at 7am, 9am, and 3pm today. the one thing going for us despite this crazy schedule is that dili kaayo init karon.
Anonymous said…
Hmm are the organizers trying to kill the players with 3 games in 1 day?! Its the weirdest schedule ive seen. They play fulltime, right? And that 18 year old player, how can that be possible? People must be blind........

ronaldo, seems like whenever there are football tournaments you are there. Hehe... Are you coaching one of the teams?
Anonymous said…
MikeH, games are 11-a-side but only 20 minutes per half for elementary and 30 minutes per half for high school. but still it's a crazy schedule, especially if you are only given an hour rest in between games. we called the attention of DepEd officials to at least start the team competitions a few days in advance since all of the teams were already here 5 days before the opening ceremonies but our concerns fell into deaf ears.

Mike, the overage player is playing in the baseball competition for Calbarzon. he is from quezon daw. it's big news here, but it's hard getting details. no DepEd official will talk about it. i think team officials has hidden the player in question. NCR football officials has also made a protest against several elementary football Romblon players who looked more like high school players. these are the same boys who manhandled our team yesterday. NCR is set to meet Romblon later and a win will keep their chances alive.

Radyo Patrol has announced that the Palaro schedule today will be postponed but the football games are still going on. I haven't been to our juniors squad games since they are playing on a different field. our game will be at 3pm. it has been raining here but the field is still playable since the ball can still roll.
Anonymous said…
correction, romblon manhandled us the other day. yesterday's game was against zamboanga.

to bad we don't have a digicam with us (translation-no budget, no disposable income). i could have sent you pics of these "elementary" players.
Anonymous said…
in a beautifully played game by both teams, the CVIRAA elementary team lost to hometown Bicol region via the dreaded penalty shootout. after consecutively winning over three teams who clearly fielded overaged players, the don bosco-led team met it's match against a Bicol selection that fielded qualified players.

with typhoon caloy supplying a heavy drizzle as a backdrop, both teams displayed skills and tactics that made the viewing crowd forget that there was a storm brewing around them. pinpoint passing, great defending, dangerous crosses and magnificent saves were seen for 40 game minutes.

with the score at 0-0 after regulation, a penalty shootout had to determine the winner. Bicol Region proved to be deadlier with their penalties as they made their first four while CVIRAA missed two of their five. while the victors leapt with joy and as the vanquished knelt in despair, the whole crowd applauded the performance of both teams. no cards were issued in a game that many felt was tactically better than most secondary games that they saw.

CVIRAA has one last chance to enter the finals where Bicol will be waiting with a twice-to-beat advantage. CVIRAA will have to win against the winner of the CAR-Southern Tagalog match played late this afternoon. To get the title, the Bosconians and their reinforcements will have to play and win three consecutive games starting at 7AM on saturday.
Anonymous said…
another three game-sked? for the elementary? If you find a shirt that says "i survive the palaro" buy it for the kids, cause they literally survived the palaro.
Anonymous said…
MikeH,

the three game sked was plotted by the Department of Education............nice no?
Anonymous said…
Crazy people. It shows that they dont know how exhausting sports can be. Did all the teams complain about the schedule?

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