CEBU, Philippines - The FREEMAN bagged the top two spots in the sportswriting contest of the 19th Milo Little Olympic-Visayas recently at the Cebu City Sports Center.
Catherine Grace “Caecent” No-ot Magsumbol won the top prize, while Assistant Sports Editor Lemuel P. Maglinte took the second place honors.
In her article entitled “Tennis ‘ball boy’ shapes up big dreams in Milo Olympics”, Magsumbol shared the inspiring story of Francis Hidalgo, who rose from being a mere ‘pulot boy (ball, boy)’ into one of Cebu’s promising netters today.
Hidalgo started as a ‘ball’ boy at the age of seven until revered Cebuano coach and champion-maker Fritz Tabura took notice of his exemplary skills during one of his free tennis lessons for underprivileged youngsters in Pardo where he serves as a barangay councilman. With Tabura’s help, it did not take long for Hidalgo to earn a spot at the University of the Visayas varsity team.
As a struggling player, Hidalgo is used to playing with a donated racket and a pair of shoes he bought from “ukay-ukay”, which are also the same shoes he wore to school before. But this did not dampen the spirits of Hidalgo. He may one of the smallest players on the line, but his fortitude and craftiness makes him the ‘tallest’ player, literally and figuratively,
among the tennis competitors in the Milo Olympics, powering UV to a bronze medal finish in team event.
Maglinte, meanwhile, penned in his piece, titled “Aquino, Alcoseba make golden bubble at the pool”, the remarkable achievements of young aspiring swimmers from Talisay City in Psalm Daniel Aquino and Raven Faith Alcoseba. With only two years of experience in competitive swimming, they did not only harvest golds, but also broke several records at the pool. Aquino of Asian College of Technology-Talisay amassed a total of 11 golds, while Alcoseba of First Chinese Royal Academy collected 10 golds and one silver.
Aside from being his two fastest swimmers, Alcoseba and Aquino also gained the admiration of their coach Roland Remolino because they excelled even if they only have a small swimming facility to practice in.
“We are only using a public pool where we pay P30 just to swim,” said Remolino, “but they showed me great dedication and love for the sport and that’s what I think became the key of our team’s success during the Milo Olympics.”
For their feats, Magsumbol and Maglinte got a cash prize of P7,500 and P5,000, respectively. —EBV (FREEMAN)