PSC to launch regional training centers

THE PHILIPPINE Sports Commission is set to launch regional training centers for budding athletes discovered from the countryside.

The sports-funding agency has identified Bacolod City (Visayas), Zamboanga City or Davao del Norte (Mindanao), Sta. Cruz, Laguna (Southern Luzon), Lingayen, Pangasinan or Ilocos Norte (Northern Luzon) as the sites of the training centers.

The PSC will present the concept of selecting athletes from the provinces and putting them in a controlled training facility near their homes before the Philippine Olympic Committee general assembly tomorrow.

Young standouts in the Philippine National Games and National Opens of national sports associations will comprise the initial batch of athletes in the training centers scheduled to open in two months.

While the local government units will take care of the venues and living quarters, the PSC will shoulder the allowances and salaries.

“It presents equal opportunities for everybody,” said PSC chair Richie Garcia. “They don’t have to go to Manila, they can now train in venues not far away from where they live.”

Garcia said athletes from these regional centers will be pitted against the mainstays of the national pool based in Manila in qualifying tournaments for foreign competitions in the future.