By Hannah L. Torregoza
Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara on Monday renewed his push for the creation of a Philippine High School for Sports, saying Congress should support the country’s need to produce world-class athletes.
Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara
(Sonny Angara Facebook page / MANILA BULLETIN)
Angara has re-filed the measure as Senate Bill No. 330 or the Philippine High School for Sports (PHSS), an educational institution dedicated to developing budding young athletes while providing them with quality secondary education.
“For a country that is crazy about sports in general, it has a shortage of elite athletes who can compete with the best in the world,” Angara noted.
“We are all waiting for the day when we will be able to watch more of our homegrown athletes competing at the world stage and seeing them bring home glory for the country,” he stressed.
Angara said he believes training should start at an early age and should be focused and well-funded.
“Hindi tayo magkakaroon ng mga gold medalists sa Olympics at wala din tayo pag asa na magkaroon ng Pinoy sa mga premyadong liga tulad ng NBA at MLB kung hindi natin seseryosohin ang pag train sa ating mga atleta (We cannot produce gold medalists in the Olympics and Filipinos won’t have a chance to join premier leagues like NBA and MLB if we don’t take the training of our athletes seriously),” Angara said.
Angara is referring to National Basketball Associations (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB), which are two of the most premier sports organization.
The senator recalled that even President Rodrigo Duterte supports the creation of a national academy for sports for high school students in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA)
He said the establishment of a PHSS will help the country in coming up with a deeper pool of athletes for its national teams.
Angara, in the 17th Congress, worked for the approval of Republic Act 11214, which created the Philippine Sports Training Center (PSTC). Under the supervision of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the PSTC will have training facilities for Olympic sports and other sports activities deemed necessary by the PSC.
But unlike the PSTC, the proposed PHSS aims to grant student athletes with the same quality education as regular high schools but with special emphasis on developing athletic skills of the students through subjects pertaining to physical education and sports development.
“The objective of the bill is to prepare students who have shown their early potential of excelling in sports for a sports-related career while undergoing quality secondary education,” according to Angara.
Admission to the PHSS, including the grant of scholarships, would be on the basis of “try outs” and other examinations as determined by the school’s board of trustees.
Angara noted how public school students are at a disadvantage compared to their private school counterparts in terms of exposure to sporting activities.
He said this is due to the fact that not only physical education is treated as a separate academic subject, “but also because of the active development of varsity teams that participate in inter-school leagues across the country.”