By Jaime Joshua A. Frias II
Contributor

BOUNDED by its tagline “men and women for others,” Xavier University extended its hand to train the Palarong Pampook-bound athletes of the City Schools Division of Marawi on May 7 at the XU main campus.

It is a two-Sunday training clinic that started with around 125 athletes from the second division. It catered to various sports disciplines including badminton, basketball, chess, karate, football, futsal, table tennis, and taekwondo.

A second delegation wave will be trained on the following Sunday, May 14. And this time, it will be from the elementary division with the same number of athletes.

The pieces of training are made to prepare them for the upcoming Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) Palarong Pampook scheduled later this month.

XU Athletics made impressions in handling the training program through their notable coaches, who are standouts in their respective sporting fields.

In fact, Superintendent Anna Zenaida U. Alonto of DepEd City Schools Division of Marawi, co-heads, and teachers have been observing the sports training given by the XU coaches.

“We received positive feedback from the teachers and their coaches as well as their school superiors. I am so happy,” said XUHEAO head Jessica Esparrago, who herself was a karate champion from the Japan Karate Association (JKA).

This is not new for XU College since it has been regularly extending sports training sessions to remote areas including war-torn communities in Mindanao for almost a decade now as part of the university’s mission.

Last year, the XU men’s basketball of coach Paul Douglas Calingin extended clinics and exhibition games with their tertiary counterpart cagers known as the Mindanao State University (MSU) Mustangs.

“We don’t just preach sports. We also promote values. Mag-unsa na lang ang atong pagka Atenista kung dula lang adtoon,” said Calingin, who is also an alumnus of Xavier University High School.

Coaches rendering services in the training camp are Calingin, Janeth Yañez (basketball women), Zofea Abellanosa Briosos (badminton men & women), Jfox Frias (chess), Ivan Caiña (football), Don Derrick Dalapag Derequito (football women), Paul Cabio (football/futsal men), Esparrago (karatedo), Analizil Julie R. Castillon (table tennis men & women), Karl Ian Dela Calzada (volleyball men), Jerome Casinillo (volleyball women), and Warren Torralba (taekwondo).

“Like Hogwartz, help will always be open to those who knock (on) our doors,” were Esparrago’s parting words.