Tagum City – The grassroots coaching education certification program was launched Monday by the Department of Education (DepEd), the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Philippine Sports Institute (PSI) at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex.
PSC national consultant on grassroots sports Dr. Serge Opena, in his welcome message during the opening program held at the DNSTC clubhouse conference room, said the five-day coaches’ education course serves as a pilot test as it will be replicated in other parts of the country.
“This program came immediately after the recently concluded DepEd and PSC planning for the national grassroots sports development. We are excited for this since this was never done in the past,” Opena told 70 participants from the DepEd Panabo City, DepEd Davao del Norte and DepEd Island Garden City of Samal divisions, province of Davao del Norte and Alyansa ng mga Pribadong Paaralan ng Davao del Norte.
Opena added that teacher-coaches are the driving force of producing quality athletes, thus, the need to equip them and train them through certification program.
Meanwhile, PSC Commissioner Charles Raymond Maxey shared his bias against teachers coaching athletes while he was a sports editor of Davao City-based community newspaper SunStar Davao and later realized when he joined the national sports agency that it was a difficult task for regular teachers to also coach athletes.
“I used to criticize teachers of DepEd for the poor performance of athletes. But being in the PSC now, I’ve come to understand their plight, it’s not easy. I appreciate Chairman Butch Ramirez’s stand to help and support DepEd instead of criticizing them,” Maxey said.
He added that the coaching course, which offers levels of certification, is one of the other collaborations that PSC and DepEd will be undertaking.
Maxey also thanked Davao del Norte Governor Anthony G. Del Rosario for hosting the program.
