Venues: Where to play?

CEBU, Philippines — For each time that we surf the TV channels for local basketball games, we get to drool more and more in envy after seeing the many places that can host topnotch basketball up north not only in Metro Manila but also its neighboring areas. The PBA, UAAP and NCAA are played primarily at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and the MOA Arena. Other games are also played at The Fying V Centre/Arena in San Juan, Yñares Center in Antipolo, Baliwag Star Arena in Bulacan, the Sta. Rosa Arena in Laguna, Yñares Sports Arena in Pasig and Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna. The huge Philippine Arena in Bulacan (capacity: 50,000++) will host the remaining games of the ongoing PBA championship series between Barangay Ginebra and Meralco; and you can expect it to be filled with those fanatic Ginebra fans. One thing that sticks out in all these venues is the flooring which looks really good on TV, and even better when up close and personal. These venues use the American wood maple, the same flooring used in the best sports venues worldwide. With more venues now getting this kind of flooring in the Philippines and technology improving production costs, the prices for these have gone down and are even competitive with local wood.

But that’s up north. And us in Cebu? How close are we getting to our Manila counterparts? And don’t we always claim we’re just as good as Manila? Can we truly say that we match up with them in the sports venues department? We’re still stuck with the Cebu Coliseum for the CESAFI, the biggest basketball event in town. CESAFI volleyball us played at the USC Main Gym and the USPF Gym. The Hoops Dome is actually a nice venue for sports events but it continues to puzzle me why not too many events are played there, whether basketball, boxing or volleyball. Of the four, the USPF Gym has the best flooring, using maple wood too. But unfortunately, the gym can’t accommodate the crowds that troop to the CESAFI games. But that’s an excellent way to get things going for Cebu. I wonder who will follow the daring move taken by USPF. The Aznar Coliseum has undergone a facelift for its gym facilities. Will the flooring be next? The USJR’s Recoletos Coliseum which is also an excellent venue even if it uses local wood in a parquet lay-out/design. The biggest bonus is that it’s also air-conditioned, the only school gym in Cebu with such a feature. Having said all that, I think it’s safe to say that Cebu does have decent gyms for the regular weekend warrior or basketball buff. There are other gyms for them like the Mandaue City Sports Complex, City Sports Club, CEC Gym, Capitol Parish Gym, Cebu City Sports Institute and the Magis Eagles Arena of Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu. But these are all small gyms which can’t host big events like the CESAFI, PBA and the like.

This brings me to football where a recent development sees a private entity putting up a sports complex that will feature a FIFA-standard football field using artificial turf, an indoor complex for futsal and basketball and other facilities that people look for in a sports complex: bleachers, locker/shower rooms, function rooms, and a coffee shop/restaurant. By mid-2018, the SRP will be the place where this sports complex will be built by the group called Dynamic Herb Sports Inc. It may not sound familiar for now but the main drivers of the project aren’t strangers to sports. Ugur Tasci, one of the key stakeholders behind Leylam’s Shawarma, along with his family and friends, have taken the bold step of building what I’d like to call a field of dreams. Ordinary weekend warriors can now play football on an artificial pitch every night when this complex is built and Cebu will now have an excellent football pitch that will support the Cebu City Sports Center that is really a part-time football pitch and part-time pitch for “other uses.” The complex will also have an indoor gym where futsal can be played in a standard futsal field/lay-out, and not just on the usual lines of the basketball court. In a chat with the media, the team of Tasci also stressed that they were out to improve the lifestyle and level of fitness of sports enthusiasts from elite athletes to your ordinary sports enthusiast who plays just for fun. The most impressive part is that they’re willing to spend a lot for such an investment. This was music to my ears. While the budget was raised/asked and respectfully not divulged, I can assure you that they won’t be spending peanuts for such a complex. The beauty of this project is that it won’t be a football-only venue. Other sports that will benefit include basketball, badminton, volleyball, running, rugby, ultimate frisbee and more. Have you seen the pictures of the project on Facebook? These look classy and impressive to say the least.

We’d like to thank Tasci and his team for taking this bold and daring move that no other local businessman or government people have done. Building his field of dreams is actually a field of dreams for all of us Cebuanos. We’ve always asked about when anyone will put up a sports complex, the next MOA Arena, or another Cebu City Sports Center. Kudos and good luck to Tasci’s Dynamic Herb Sports Inc. It may not be the MOA Arena that people are looking for, but it’s still a great start. I’m pretty sure this will get the ball rolling and we’ll see our other fields of dreams coming up very soon.