Dumaguete CVIRAA 2019
Another February. Another CVIRAA. Another gathering of the top athletes coming from the different divisions of the Department of Education in Central Visayas. That’s why it’s called the Central Visayas Athletic Association. And just like most CVIRAAs, there are highs and lows. There are praises and complaints. But more than anything else, there’s that wonderful opportunity for our young student-athletes to experience what it’s like to be part of a multi-sport Olympic-style event, despite all the bad news you might hear about it.
The first two thumbs up for the CVIRAA is Dumaguete City. It’s one of the closest to perfect hosts for a CVIRAA or a Palarong Pambansa. Event venues are not that far from each other and allnmeet the basic requirements for each sport (not perfect but acceptable). Traffic isn’t as bad as that in Cebu. This bleacher bum managed to hop from one venue to another with ease, found parking, and was able to watch all the action: from swimming to athletics to football to volleyball to futsal to basketball. (Special mention: thanks to Waze). Hotels, pension houses and airbnb accommodations are adequate. When the games come to halt, there’s a lot to do for the sports tourists/fans, with the boulevard being the iconic “tambayan” of just about anyone who visits Dumaguete. There are also enough malls, supermarkets, groceries, department stores and ukay-ukay sellers for those who want to do a little shopping. And one can’t forget the food with all the restaurants scattered all over, from puto+sikwate at the public market to the high end restaurants (both locally owned and from outside). Travelling to Dumaguete is easy from the other CVIRAA areas, including Bohol and Siquijor. You can take the plane or boat from Cebu, or travel by land. Noticeable during the CVIRAA were buses, vans and jeeps coming from the different delegations. Family members and relatives of athletes also brought their vehicles. It’s no wonder so many people fall in love with “Duma.” I did decades ago and I’m still in love with her today.
Overall implementation of the entire CVIRAA was smooth with the usual kinks here and there, a norm for events of this magnitude. I heard that many teams complained about how strict they were when it came to documents, but that’s one thing one has to accept. With the DepEd, they treat the documents as if it were a competition, and the coaches who prepare these will just have to be patient and learn how to keep their cool. There are times when I feel it’s too much, but that’s just the way it is. The DepEd wants all documents to be perfect so that the winners who go to the Palarong Pambansa won’t have too much work to do when they prepare their documents again.
Event management also went well with different tournament managers tasked to run their respective events. Scheduling, though, is something that needs to be reviewed. I don’t think it’s right to have a team play twice in one day especially in the playoffs, for the physical and draining events. For high school basketball, the semifinals were played Friday morning with the finals in the afternoon of the same day. These are two of the toughest games of a team and they have to play these in one day. Make sense? If a team had to pay twice in a day, that should be done in the elimination or first rounds; or games can start even before the formal opening ceremony that’s usually held on a Sunday. The same was the case for football (high school and elementary), girls volleyball, and girls futsal: semifinals in the morning, then finals in the afternoon. And what made this worse was these were played on Thursday, a day before games were supposed to end. Why weren’t the finals played on Friday? This way, they’re guaranteed of a quality game featuring teams with fresh legs and at 100%. Worse was elementary football. They played the semifinals on Wednesday morning and the finals in the afternoon of the same day. They actually had Thursday and Friday to play the finals. Why the rush? In elementary basketball, the quarterfinals were played Thursday morning with the semifinals played in the afternoon. I thank and applaud the TM for agreeing to move the semifinals to a later time when the team whose quarterfinal game ended at 1PM was supposed to play its semifinal game at 2PM. Are we forgetting that the welfare of the child is of utmost importance in games like these? We’re not dealing with robots here. For the elementary level, we’re talking about kids 12 years old or younger.
Officiating at the CVIRAA is always a concern. I just wish the DepEd really takes a close and deep look at how it can improve this department. While there is good officiating, there also are a lot of improvement areas. I’d rather not go into details. But as a guide, officials should call the games in the same way it’s called in the mainstream. As an example, if it’s basketball, football or volleyball; the way the games are officiated should be the same as those in tournaments of other leagues like the CESAFI, NBTC, Aboitiz Football Cup, Rebisco V-League, Governor’s Cup and other regular tournaments. I hear a lot of concerns on why the DepEd has a “different way of calling” the games at the CVIRAA as compared to other tournaments.
So who won? As expected, the Cebu City Division won the overall championship, dominating the medal standings. But that’s an annual given with all of the biggest schools found in the city. I’m also happy for Bohol Province for placing second and Lapu-Lapu City grabbing third place overall. Dumaguete was fourth while Cebu Province was fifth. Yes, Bohol beat Cebu and I’m sure this is something that the people at the Capitol and DepEd Cebu Prov will look into very carefully. And I’m really interested to see what Bohol Province’s is doing with sports program.
Kudos to all the winners, participants and CVIRAA management team. The CVIRAA is a meeting of champions from all over the region and you’re all winners. Best of luck to those who qualified for the Davao Palarong Pambansa.
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