In your own little way, how can you give an impact to your community?
We commonly encounter this question when we talk about how we can share a piece of ourselves to people.
Some say they give donations to the underprivileged, do activities which raise funds for a cause, or advocate for equality and human rights, and so on.
But for the surf victors of San Juan, La Union, bringing back their glory to the surfing community by way of preparing future surf champions is what they believe to be their purpose in life through the Surfing Pilipinas Grassroots Development Project.
“We promised ourselves that when we come back from our competition in El Salvador, we will be honing future surf champs,” said Coach Ian Saguan.
“It may be hard because of the pandemic, and we need to make sure that safety measures are being followed but this will not stop us from achieving our goal,” Saguan added.
He said that there are 20 groms, as surfers call it, in their community that are being trained on a daily basis.
THE GRASSROOTS PROJECT - Groms from San Juan, La Union are being trained under the Surfing Pilipinas Grassroots Development Program at the shores of San Juan, La Union. (Photo courtesy of UPSA)
Among the trainers of the program include the Team A Elite Surfers and Southeast Asian (SEA) Games medalists Roger Casugay, Rogelio “Jhay-r” Esquivel, and Daisy Valdez with the guidance of Saguan and Luke Landrigan.
In addition, the program is being supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), United Philippine Surfing Association (UPSA) and MVP Sports Foundation, Inc. (MVPSF) with the aim to develop new breed of surfers that will represent the country in the international arena.
“We have crammed the sport, and it is high time that we share what we learned from our experiences, because in this way, I believe that making someone else’s dream come true, for us, is the true meaning of success,” Saguan closed.
Saguan said that it will not be an easy voyage for these dreamers, but starting them young will enable them to master the sport.
Surfing, as a sport in the Philippines, has been running for more than 20 years now, but it is only this time that the PSC in partnership with UPSA and MVPSF has strengthened and etched it as one of the priority sports where Filipinos excel. (JCR/AHFF/PIA-1)
