Athlete of the month for January: Arnold M. Balais

The Freeman Sports’ first “Athlete of the Month” is Arnold Mina Balais, a one-legged athlete who won silver and bronze in swimming events in the recent ASEAN Para Games in Thailand.

Balais holds several Philippine records for amputees in swimming. He is one of the six veteran athletes left in the current list of national differently-abled team.

More than the medals and honors he won for the country, Balais deserves attention for more reasons.

Some years back, the city government of Cebu honored him as an outstanding individual during its  Charter Day celebration. He was the athlete that lit the urn during the opening ceremonies of the 2005 ASEAN Games and was a torch-bearer in one international event.

Balais was not born with a defect. In fact, he grew up a normal kid who loves to play basketball and wanted to be like his idol Samboy Lim. But a freak accident during a barangay cage league back in Olongapo when he was 15 years old changed his life forever.

With the broken bone in his right thigh being infected, the doctors advised to cut it off. But that did not change his pursuit for glory in the athletic field – a thing that is worthy of emulation among the aspiring athletes of the country.

It did not take long for Balais to realize that life must go on. He  became a gym rat and ventured into bodybuilding. In 1996, he represented RP in a Paralympics competition in the US where he finished 12th among 24 international athletes.

In 1999, Balais tried his luck in Cebu where he joined the Philspada National Games and won golds in swimming. His performance got him an invitation to the RP team.

Since then, Balais had competed in the US, Australia, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand.

Looking back at the events of his life, Balais said if he had not been an amputee, he is not even sure how his life would be right now.

“Even if I have a choice to have my right leg back, I won’t. I am happy the way I am now and this makes me who I am now. To other individuals who also have disabilities, just have the right attitude and strive to be the best that you can be. And for the able-bodied athletes, if I made it, there’s no reason why they can’t,” said Balais.