Olympian and former national mentor Pinky Brosas announced a much better and bigger national grassroot development swimming program next year by the Congress of Philippine Aquatics, Inc. (COPA).
Brosas said all cluster heads in 15 regional areas of COPA are all done mustering partnership with their respective local government units (LGUs) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to conduct not just tournaments but educational programs for the athletes, coaches and teachers.
“The inclusion of provincial teams and underprivileged students from public schools is a testament of COPA’s serious campaign to open swimming to a much wider community. We firmly believe that swimming or any other sports is not exclusive to certain group or community. And right now, inclusivity is happening,” said Brosas referring to over 100 swimmers from public schools in Manila and teams from Leyte, Cagayan Valley, Cebu, Samar and Misamis Oriental who joined in COPA’s Reunion Swim Challenge leg 3 which come to a close on Sunday at the Teofilo Ildefonso swimming pool in Rizal Memorial Sports Center.
“Swimmers come and go, but coaches and trainors, andyan lang ang mga yan kaya kailangan natin silang ma-educate sa tamang pamamaraan. Kapag tama ang nasimulan, walang duda na tama lahat ang approach sa mga batang atleta,” added Brosas, part of the Philippine Team in Munich (1972) and Montreal (1976) Olympics.
Brosas then joined COPA co-founder and tournament director Chito Rivera and technical head Richard Luna in awarding the medals to all the winners headed by Nicola Queen Diamante and Paulene Beatrice Obebe who both grabbed their third gold medal in the event organized by Samahang Manlalangoy ng Pilipinas (SMP), Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Speedo and MILO.
Diamante, 11, collected her third mint by winning the girls 11-yrs 50-m backstroke clocking 34.41 seconds, while Obebe claimed the 12-yrs class in timed of 36.82 seconds as they shared ‘most prolific swimmer’ award.
On Saturday action, Diamante, the pride of RSS Dolphins Swim Club shone in girls class A 50-m butterfly (34.72) and 50-m freestyle (31.69), while Obebe dominating her 12-yrs class winning the 50-m freestyle (29.97) and 50-m butterfly (31.22).
"May chance pa po ako sa dalawang event ko sa afternoon session, pero kung hindi po ako manalo, okey lang po. Happy na po ako pati si coach Anthony Reyes masayang masaya po,” said Diamante who already amassed 11 gold medals from two previous COPA tourneys.
Anya dela Cruz, a 9-year old protegee of ASSC swim Club, collected two gold medals in her class, winning the 50-m back (43.03) and 100-m freestyle (1:21.10).