DepEd pushes Little League for Pinoy kids

The Department of Education (DepEd) has teamed up with representatives of Little League Baseball International to spur the love for the sport in this basketball-crazy country.

Little League, one of the largest youth sports groups in the world with about two million members, and the department signed an agreement to hold local baseball tournaments for elementary school children here to develop the game and discover raw talents.

The aim is to hold the Palarong Pambansa Elementary Baseball Tournament, which will seek to increase Filipino participation in the little league baseball program.

The 13-under baseball program is intended to discover and develop young ball players who could compete in Asia Pacific and World Series tournaments.

Through the tie-up, the DepEd hopes for greater participation of Filipino children in world little league baseball rather than focusing on basketball, the most popular sport in this former US commonwealth where ex-professional player Michael Jordan remains a household name.

The department however cautioned school officials against disrupting classes and collecting fees for prospective ball players.

Baseball was introduced in the Philippines by the Americans shortly after the country was ceded by Spain in 1898. It never quite took off until the 1950s, widely considered as the golden age of the sport when Manila hosted and won the first Asian Baseball Championship.

But poor management and infighting among baseball officials relegated it to the sidelines in subsequent years, allowing basketball to emerge as the new favorite sport.