A TOTAL of 76 universities and colleges, as well as sports and athletic organizations from across the country, agreed to form a unified body that would govern collegiate sports.
The agreement was forged at the close of the National Consultative Meeting for Collegiate Sports at the PhilSports Complex in Pasig City on Thursday.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William Ramirez welcomed the development and scheduled a follow up on the meeting next month.
“Our next target now is to forge the organization’s structure, by-laws and guidelines and select its officers,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez also vowed to strengthen the bridge that connects elementary and high-school sports with the collegiate ranks.
“Most of the time, our children do not have much options after elementaryor high school,” he said. “They should have a clear direction on what option they have in the university level.”
“The tertiary level is a part of the PSC’s pyramid of sports development and it should get equal attention as the grassroots level, because this feeds into the elite level of sports,” the PSC chairman added.
The school sports officials also agreed to actively pursue a collaboration among sports research, scientific coaching and grassroots sports.
Dems Toledo, Sports Director for University of San Agustin, said that there is a need to safeguard home-grown athletes, who, most of the time, are “pirated” by the big schools for the leagues in Metro Manila.
“When our athletes are ripe for the big time competitions, the big schools suddenly come and take them away from us,” he said.
Manuel Paster Jr., an official of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges, also stressed the need for the establishment of the proposed national body’s identity.
“We have to move and legislate a national federation without losing other organization’s identity,” Paster said.