Sports therapy for ‘Yolanda’s’ young survivors

COACH Jacinto (in red T-shirt) sets the game rules before starting the basketball clinic in the Baras gym in Palo, Leyte.

As classes ended and summer began, young survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in Leyte received a special treat—a sports clinic organized by Smart Communications and Digitel Mobile Philippines (Sun Cellular), with the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF), a private sector initiative for disaster management.

The summer camp, participated in by some 300 students from 20 elementary schools in Palo and Tacloban, was part of continuing recovery efforts for the devastated province.

Participants learned basic and advanced techniques in basketball from coach Reynaldo “Jon” Jacinto of the Ateneo Blue Eagles and lacrosse from student members of the Philippines Lacrosse Association (PLA) from International School Manila.

The basketball clinic focused on teaching participants the basics of the game and training them to execute proper techniques.

Jacinto was assisted by Paolo Dizon and Rafi Silerio of Smart sports marketing.

GIRLS just want to have basketball fun

“Basketball is not new to these kids, but we are happy that they have been enthusiastic to learn the drills and play the game with us,” said Jacinto.

“We have always been advocates of sports for the youth but this time, we are bringing in sports as a form of psychosocial intervention for these young typhoon survivors,” said Smart sports marketing head Christopher Quimpo.

He said  the kids may still be suffering from the effects of Yolanda, so “we aim to create a venue to help relieve any disaster-related trauma and channel their energies … into something positive.”

Quimpo said sports would help the children become more resilient, mentally tough and emotionally stable.

The Palo leg of the basketball clinic was attended by about 130 Grade 4-6 students from 13 elementary schools of Palo I School District, while the Tacloban leg was attended by about 125 students from seven elementary schools.

Philip Teraza, Palo I School District supervisor, said the program was timely in helping children forget and recover from the trauma of last year’s disaster. It also supported their efforts to discover and develop young athletes in school.

Meldan Nebrida, a Grade 6 student at Caloogan Elementary School in Palo, said he enjoyed the clinic and he learned how to dribble, how to handle defense and a lot of other things.

Tacloban boys get an introduction to a team sport called lacrosse.

He said everything they learned was important in improving their game.

Although it was the first time the kids played lacrosse, PLA representative Marco Meily said the students of San Jose Elementary School in Tacloban City were fast learners.

He said the kids showed a lot of potential in the sport.

San Jose Central School principal Monina Gabrino thanked PLA for introducing her students to lacrosse. “We hope to have more of these programs for our school, especially this summer season,” she said.

Jared Reyes, a sixth grade student who played lacrosse for the first time, found the sport very enjoyable. He said that if he could practice often, he might become good at it.

He said that because the game was so much fun, it would help Yolanda victims forget the tragedy.

With most rehabilitation programs focused on rebuilding schools and other infrastructure in the devastated region, Department of Education officials and local school administrators lauded the sports initiative and expressed the hope that other humanitarian groups would undertake similar programs for the physical and psychological well-being of schoolchildren.

Earlier, Smart and Sun Cellular also partnered with PDRF to launch the multichannel crowdfunding campaigns Brick by Brick and help.PH for survivors of Yolanda and other disasters.