DTCC: Celebrating one’s journey to the top

DANCESPORT is more than reaching the pinnacle of one’s skills. It’s about the journey of getting there.

This was the message that Dancesport-Team Cebu City’s esteemed founder Edward Hayco imparted during the official launching of the 6th Dancesport sa Sugbu and the Queen City Open Dancesport Championship yesterday morning at the Marco Polo Hotel.

The country’s best dancesport athletes are set to converge in Cebu on Sept. 14 for the two prestigious competitions with the Dancesport sa Sugbu set to become a culminating activity and a showcase for those who took part of the free workshops that were held in different barangays all over the city last summer.

But Hayco, who also happens to be the chairman of the Cebu City Sports Commission, espoused that these competitions were more than just avenues to gain medals and awards. He said it was also an opportunity to savor the journey leading to it. He took the famed and multi-awarded DTCC as a fine example of such virtues.

“In the DanceSport Council of the Philippines National Championships, DTCC got 23 out of 25 golds. In Batang Pinoy 2012, DTCC got 35 out of 36 golds. But the gold is not our real goal,” Hayco said in his speech. “We put the gold at the top of a mountain for the athletes to aspire to reach the summit. As they climb, they learn to develop their self-esteem, self-confidence and discipline. That is our goal, to transform the youth through dance.”

The affable sports czar also lauded the incredible story of one of DTCC’s finest athletes, Wilbert Aunzo, who turned his life around through the sport.

“He lived in the back alleys around barangay Tejero and collected used plastic bottles at polluted creeks to earn P10 to buy rice and salt for a meal. His friends are now drug addicts and are arrested for theft every now and then. But he went into dancesport, became a full athletic scholar in the University of Cebu taking up Hotel and Restaurant Management and is part of the Philippine National Team. He is the family breadwinner,” Hayco narrated.

That opportunity will be present at the Dancesport sa Sugbu competition, which was created for the primary purpose of letting barangay child trainees get a first-hand experience of what it is like to join in a professionally officiated dance competition. The exposure is expected to instill in them self-discipline, self-confidence, and self-worth. This experience will also look to inspire the children to train harder and aspire for a better future.

The event is made possible through the generous support of its presenters, the Cebu City Government, Department of Tourism, Philippine Sports Commission, Cebu City Sports Commission and DanceSport Council of the Philippines.