Fair Play: Parents vs. DepEd

DURING one football game in high school, I got so frustrated I decided to stop the play by sitting on the ball.

Yep, I was so pissed with that incompetent fool who kept blowing his whistle against us I just grabbed the darn ball, sat on it, and dared him to take it from me.

I spent the final minutes of our loss, watching from the sidelines. Our coach then told me in a not-so-nice-way, “Hampang lang, ako lang ma-angal sa ref.”

But I had an excuse. I was just 15 years old and didn’t know better.

The parents of the Cebu City elementary basketball team stormed the court after their sons lost to Dumaguete in the Cviraa finals.

Insults, harsh words, lewd gestures and a shoe were hurled. Department of Education (DepED) officials condemned the parents’ acts.

But the parents said they had an excuse, the referees were biased and the officials were doing nothing about it.

Whatever spin the parents are doing right now, won’t take away the fact: they lost and they stormed the court, like sore losers.

They blamed everybody; officials, DepEd and bad journalism even.

Of course, there is nothing to report, no incident to condemn, had the parents behaved.

I’ve heard a lot of stories of spotty officiating in DepEd meets from parents, but they never stormed the field. One merely informed me, “Grabe ang officiating diri, ni ulbo na ang kaspa ni coach.” When they lost, I got the text, “Ana man gyud na, you can’t win them all.”

DepEd’s Vivian Giñete hit the mark. In incidents like these, the whole delegation gets affected. Parents don’t only represent their sons, nor their sons’ schools, but Cebu City, a team whose monicker is derived from Sto. Niño.

Parents are always welcome in any sport event, especially in the Cviraa, because they take care of other kids, not just their own. But if they don’t behave, they become a liability.

Giñete, also, aside from being embarrassed for Cebu City, should also be ashamed for DepEd. This incident again raised a glaring need for competent officials in events ran by DepEd.

Giñete said in their evaluation for Cviraa, they will discuss the conduct of the parents. I hope they will also pick on the competence—or lack of it--of their officials.

There is something fundamentally wrong with DepEd meets if players and officials have learned to accept that incompetent officiating is the norm, not the anomaly.

Should DepEd not learn to think out of the box, this won’t be the last incident involving hot-headed and misbehaving parents.

In a meet that identifies the best in Central Visayas, DepEd doesn’t hire the best referees. Instead, teachers who only get a short briefing (or in the case of the 2001 football tournament, teachers who don’t know the rules) get the whistle.

And that’s very embarrassing.

TORTURE. Manfred Schuwerk, a Sportswriters Association of Cebu awardee, commented on my previous column (Kapuso vs. Kapamilya and DepEd’s torture.) Here’s his e-mail, I edited out some parts.

“…torture is the right word for what happened in Dumaguete. I joined this event for the first time…back to the opening, I thought the event was over after the teams’ parade as it is usually the case in such opening ceremonies…so I left with my other coaches…Later I learned that the athletes had to sit several hours more there….”

“The teacher coach from our elementary team did even not know that he can not bring back the players who were substituted. He changed at halftime, all substitutes in, and had no more replacements. I do not want to discourage them now, but it should be a lesson for all to do better in future.”

Yep, it should be. But in cases like this, and regarding officials, DepEd never learn.

(mikelimpag@gmail.com, mikelimpag@gmail.com)