Maasin City ready and prepared to host EVRAA 2012

By BONG PEDALINO, PIA Southern Leyte
January 4, 2012

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte  –  With just twenty-four days to go, this city has been all set for action for the week-long Eastern Visayas Regional Athletic Association (EVRAA) sports competition, scheduled to be held here January 29 to February 4.

Everything has been laid out for the accommodations, from the billeting quarters of athletic delegates and officials to sports venues and other physical facilities, said Dominador Rojas, City Sports Coordinator.

On the part of the Department of Education (DepEd) City Division, all the teachers were already oriented on their specific roles to ensure a successful hosting of the annual sports tournament among elementary and secondary schools students all over Leyte and Samar, said Fernando Salapi, Division Sports Coordinator.

Both Rojas and Salapi were the guests during this year’s maiden edition of the cable TV program “Action Center” this morning.

Rojas said the only problem he foresaw was the weather, if it keeps on raining as the games went on, suggesting that playing venues must have alternate sites to counter the ever changing climate.

Games such as volleyball and basketball that are set to be played in the open arena at the provincial sports complex, or at the Tomas Oppus Pilot School (TOPS) oval, will be transferred to covered gyms when it rains, and for this purpose all the barangay gyms in the city may be used, said Rojas.

City Mayor Maloney Samaco had said he wanted this year’s EVRAA hosting as a memorable experience for the visiting delegates, estimated at over 6,000 from ten school divisions around Region 8, even as he also wanted athletes of the home division to be the champion.

This will be the second time Maasin City played host to the regional, annual sports meet, the first time was in the year 2005 where the city emerged overall champion, a feat Mayor Samaco wants repeated.

A total of seventeen sporting events will be competed, and in all these games, except for Archery, the City Division has been training hard its players in close coordination with the city local government unit, said Salapi.

As guests of honor during the opening ceremony, DepEd invited Assistant Secretary Tony Umali, while the city government invited Chito Loyzaga, Commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), but both have not yet confirmed their presence to date.