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Monday, March 2, 2015

2015 ZPRAA Meet held in Pagadian City

By Franklin P. Gumapon

PAGADIAN CITY – In preparation for the May 3-9, 2015Palarong Pambansa in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, the Department of Education (DepEd)-9 has just concluded the conduct of the 2015 Zamboanga Peninsula Athletic Association (ZPRAA) Meet hosted by the city government here.

Eight athletic delegations from the provincial schools divisions of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and ZamboangaSibugay, and the city schools divisions of Dapitan, Dipolog, Pagadian, Isabela and Zamboanga converged here last week to vie for the different sports competitions.

The overall results of the four-day sports competitions showed that Zamboanga del Sur emerged as champion in the secondary level followed by Zamboanga City and Dipolog City.

In the elementary level, Zamboanga City got champion followed by Zamboanga del Sur and Dipolog City.

In an interview with Dr. Malcolm S. Garma, officer in-charge of DepEd-9, he said that the winning athletes, who will be sent for the PalarongPambansa, would have their training at the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Government Sports Complex at Dao, Pagadian City, as Governor Antonio H. Cerilles had acceded to DepEd’s request to hold such training there.

Garma also bared that region 9 was second to the last among the 17 regions in last year’s PalarongPambansa in Laguna. But he was quick to cite certain factors affecting the preparation of the athletes in this region such as language barrier, religion, inadequate training and other socio-cultural factors. “It’s only here in region 9 where people speak so many kinds of languages – Chavacano, Cebuano, Ilonggo, Tagalog, Tausog, Subano, Kalibugan, etc. – which somehow affect teamwork among athletes,” Garma explained.

He, however, expressed optimism that region 9’s ranking in the May 2015 PalarongPambansa would improve.