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TACLOBAN, Philippines – Two years after being halted by pandemic, the Eastern Visayas Regional Athletics Association (EVRAA) Meet returned to action on Monday, April 24.
The region’s biggest annual scholastic multi-sports competition, which will run until April 27, is co-hosted by the schools division of Leyte and Tacloban City.
At least 5,149 athlete learners from 13 school divisions in the region have confirmed to participate in the competition.
Ormoc City has the most number of participating athletes with 519 followed by Eastern Samar (491), Calbayog City (483), Tacloban City (482), Leyte (480), Samar (459), Northern Samar (433), Southern Leyte (399), Maasim City (360), Catbalogan City (306), Biliran (271), Borongan City (267), and Baybay City (199).
Some of the game are held in Tacloban, Palo, Tanauan, and nearby towns, with most athletes billeted at the Leyte National High School in Tacloban City, a few meters away from the Leyte Sports Development Center, where the opening program will be held on Tuesday.
In one of the sports board meeting, Department of Education regional director Dr. Evelyn Fetalvero underscored the importance of sports competition.
“Sports and physical education provide a great opportunity for children to head outside, get active, and focus on developing different skills. The benefits of sports in education are vast, and they aren’t just physical benefits,” said Fetalvero.
The DepEd Central Office has allocated a total of P2 million to support the staging of the EVRAA Meet. DepEd Eastern Visayas has set aside over P1.5 million to augment the budget for the said event.
Fetalvero also emphasized the importance of partnership and strong collaboration of stakeholders in ensuring the success of this big event.
“I laud the efforts of all the 13 schools division offices that despite the challenges in budget and other factors, they were able to prepare their athletes for the EVRAA. I truly understand all their concerns and rest assured that the regional office is doing its best to address those challenges,” she said.
In this year’s EVRAA, athletes will be competing in swimming, archery, basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball, football, sepak takraw, table tennis, badminton, billiard, chess, dance sports, gymnastics, arnis, boxing, wrestling, taekwondo, wushu, and pencak silat.
The winners will represent the region in the 2023 Palarong Pambansa scheduled on July 29 to August 5 in Marikina City. – Rappler.com
Ricky Bautista is an Aries Rufo Journalism Fellow.
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