General Admission
A step towards the right direction
By Al S. Mendoza
NOT to prepare is to prepare for failure.
To prepare is to win.
With this as battle cry, Dagupan City takes the lead in pushing for a serious bid to aim yet again for a stab at Olympic glory.
Toward this end, the City will host the National Open Track & Field Championship, with the Narciso Ramos Stadium in Lingayen as the most probable venue.
Mayor Al Fernandez has pushed for this momentous occasion.
“I wish to contribute again to the Olympic dream in my own humble way,” said Mayor Al. “Let us not stop dreaming, for to do so, to stop dreaming, would mean we are surrendering our pride as a nation, our principles as Filipino always steeped in facing challenges no matter the odds.”
Mayor Al made the remarks after having been recently unanimously elected to a second four-year term as Chairman of the Philippine Amateur Track & Field Association (PATAFA).
Go Teng Kok (GTK), the indefatigable PATAFA president for more than a decade now, was also re-elected – again unchallenged like Mayor Al – to lead the PATAFA for another four years.
“There is no other person more capable to Chair the PATAFA than Mayor Al Fernandez,” GTK said. “His leadership and principles are beyond question.”
The PATAFA board and the general assembly lustily applauded when Mayor Al offered his turf to host the National Open in May.
It is a step towards the right direction.
Three years from now, the Olympic fever will be with us again.
Three years from now, the 2012 Olympics will be held in London.
That’s not a long wait. As history loves to tell us, time flies.
Before we know it, 2012 is here; time for Olympic muscles to be flexed once again.
It is in this backdrop that Mayor Al and GTK and their PATAFA board are gearing for a National Open aimed at discovering talents for potential bets in the London Olympics.
Such talents will be quartered for a vigorous training program hatched with the most advanced methods of preparing a warrior for the 2012 Olympics.
“We have a new giant sponsor willing to help us prepare athletes with medal potentials in the 2010 Olympics,” said GTK. “He wants his identity kept secret, for now that is. When the proper time comes, he will surface.”
The thing is, we should not stop aiming high.
“We dream to win the first ever track and field medal in the Olympics,” said Mayor Al. “It’s a tough job, indeed. But if we don’t keep the fire burning, what can we achieve?”
I can only agree. London could be the impetus, the inspiration, to achieve the unachievable.
As GTK so correctly pointed out, “We don’t aspire for something great, shame on us so-called top guns of the PATAFA. We are here sworn to perform big strides, never to back down even against the tallest of odds.”
Brave words that could only come from the bravest of hearts.
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