EVERY SUMMER since 1999, dancesport volunteers go to the city’s barangays to teach the children for one month. PHOTO COURTESY OF DANCESPORT TEAM CEBU CITY
Most girls her age would rather go to summer classes as students, but not 8-year-old Meygan Verano.
Verano is one of the youngest teachers of the Cebu City government’s summer program that aims to reach out to the grassroots. She has volunteered to give free lessons on ballroom dancing, particularly cha-cha, jive and samba, to children—most of them older than she—at City Central School.
“I’m happy when I dance,” said Verano, one of the youngest performers in the dancesport program of the Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC).
Edward Hayco, founder of Dancesport Team Cebu City, said he developed the program of tapping young athletes to become trainers to instill in them the sense of discipline and responsibility.
Like caddies
MEYGAN Verano, one of the youngest teachers of the Cebu City government’s summer program, has volunteered to give free lessons on ballroom dancing to children at City Central School. DORIS C. BONGCAC
He compared them to caddies who tag along with golfers and, in the process, learn a lot from them.
“We ask them to teach others so they will mature fast and appreciate what they were taught. This is part of teaching them discipline,” said Hayco, CCSC chair.
Verano, who lives in Sitio (sub-village) Banawa in Barangay (village) Guadalupe, Cebu City, dreams of becoming a dancesport champion someday. She joined the dancesport summer training program in 2013 upon the prodding of her sister, Labell, 19, who took the same program 10 years ago.
Eventually, Verano learned to love the sport. “I started to enjoy what I was doing. That is why I went on to join [Dancesport] Team Cebu City,” she said.
She said she wanted to share her knowledge with other children who wanted to learn ballroom dances but could not afford to pay the services of instructors.
Giving back
To pay back the city government for the skills she has learned, Verano volunteered for the city’s summer initiative.
Every summer since 1999, dancesport volunteers go to the city’s barangays to teach the children for one month. So far, some 30,000 children have joined.
Two of them, Wilbert Aunzo and Pearl Marie Cañeda, won the gold in the Youth Latin Amateur category in the 68th Australian Dancesport competition in Australia in November 2013. A number of them were included in the roster of Dancesport Team Cebu City, which has won more than 2,000 gold medals in both international and national competitions.
Hayco, who became CCSC chair in 2010, expanded the program to cover basketball, arnis, archery, boxing, badminton, chess, karate-do, soccer, softball, taekwondo, table tennis, track and field, volleyball and weightlifting.
His purpose: To develop champions in these fields.
Champions in the making
The program is open to city residents ages 7 to 14. Classes are held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. It started on April 22 and will end on May 27.
FELLOW dance instructor and dance partner Christian Jade Yngayo, 10, says his passion prevents him from hanging out with friends. DORIS C. BONGCAC
The CCSC and the Department of Education have identified the gymnasiums of 16 public elementary schools as venues. “We do it this way so that children will no longer have to travel and spend for transportation just to avail themselves of our training programs,” Hayco said.
With no funding from the city government, the sports officials have to improvise. In archery, for example, the CCSC manufactured 2,000 bows and arrows. The bows are made from PVC pipes with strings tied at both ends. The arrows are made of bamboo.
Private groups and individuals donate snacks.
The mentors don’t mind even if they don’t get paid, saying they love what they are doing.
“I had a hard time explaining our lessons to students. I end up dancing to show them what I mean,” said Verano. A shy girl who bites her nails when she’s bored, she transforms into a confident dancer when the music starts.
Fellow dance instructor and dance partner Christian Jade Yngayo, 10, said his passion prevented him from hanging out with friends. “Sometimes I also get tired from dancing, but I don’t mind because I enjoy what I’m doing,” he said.