Sports heritage in Negros Occidental is a living tradition. It is not something that we allude to only in the past. The Negrense today plays an active role in the province’s dynamic sports scene, whether as athlete, spectator, diehard fan, groupie, dugout mom, or social media follower who likes and shares winning posts. The Negrenses’ collective desire to be champions is an itch. Sure, they can lose gracefully, but winning stories feed their soul.
That can be the over-arching reason why many sports events where Negrenses have shown mettle before continue to count them as stalwarts. Golf for one. Boxing, too. The Negrense sportsman has been a pathfinder, like Julie Uychiat who ran the World Marathon Challenge only five years after she took up the sport (Read it here), and the NOGCC Swim Team-Corals who dived into artistic swimming just five months after a workshop (Read it here).
This July the Negros Season of Culture highlights two team sports. Football is a cornerstone sport of Negrenses. Much is owed to schools that nurtured the liking for the sport, requiring students to take it up as part of Physical Education curriculum. Several months back a football clinic was held at the University of St. La Salle, attended by, among others, agents to spot stars for various football clubs in the country. We made sure we captured that and preserved it for this sports edition. Football in Negros goes all the way back, and now, it moves forward with even greater fervor. Read all about it in “Football in Negros: Alive & Kicking”.
In June, the stunning beaches of Sipalay City in southern Negros played host to the second leg of the Beach Volleyball Republic on Tour 2023. NSC was there. Volleyball in general has always featured Negrenses. Beach volleyball, though a more recent event in the country, has naturally surged in popularity in the archipelago. The selection of Sipalay as host of the second leg of the BVR attests to the merit of this coastal city as a sports tourism destination. Feel the fun and frolic in “The Sipalay Spike” and rediscover the many facets of this southern Negros destination.
Visit www.negrosseasonofculture.com.
Text by: Alan S. Gensoli
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