It’s all systems go for ITH 2010

Gearing up to the challenges of boosting up the level of campus sports writing in the country, Ignite Academic Training and school and office supplies company Adventurer, with the partnership of the Philippine Basketball Association, Journal Group of Publications, Business Mirror, Manila Standard, ActiveWhite, DZSR Sports Radio, Fullcourtfresh.com and EC Communications  is launching Adventurer In The Huddle: 1^st National Sports Writing Congress this November 8, 10, and 12 at the JCSGO Seed Dome in Cubao, Quezon City.

Expecting a total of 500 participants from elementary, high school and tertiary level from all over the country, ITH 2010 will be the ground-breaking congress of its kind in the Philippines, with veteran sports writers from major dailies sharing their wealth of knowledge to our aspiring writers in the 3-day event.

Leading the lineup of speakers are People’s Journal’s Bong Pedralvez, Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Francis Ochoa, University of the Philippines professor and Business Mirror columnist Tessa Jazmines, ABSCBN’s TJ Manotoc, and Patricia Bermudez-Hizon of Solar TV.

Pacific Rims author Rafe Bartholomew, Ateneo de Manila University’s Rick Olvarez, Tina Maralit and Jonas Terrado from the Manila Bulletin, In the Zone’s Edison Ching, Firequinito blogger Jaemark Tordecilla, Sports Insider host Noel Zarate, Ignite’s Josiah Albelda, Fullcourtfresh.com’s Jenner Ong and Rex San Diego of Quezon City Science High School are also featured in the event.

“This is a big step toward achieving our goal to bring the level of campus sports journalism in the country notches higher,” said ITH 2010 Project Director Albelda.

Aside from seminars-cum-lectures from distinguished sports journalists, ITH 2010 will also be giving away cash prized to the winners of the Sports Interview Writing, Live Coverage Writing, Sports Photojournalism, and Sports Publication Section contests.

The participants will also enjoy a live PBA Game at the Araneta Coliseum on November 10 as a part of PBA’s Community Outreach Program and will pick one student who will write about the game in their official website.

From an outsider’s perspective

Jaemark Tordecilla has always been one of the most outspoken sports writers today. His ranting sessions and tirades online have either fetched praises from his fans, or earned flak from his critics.

His web log, firequinito.com, continues to make waves among the sports-loving guys in the dot.com community and was awarded in 2009 as Best Sports Blog of the Year by the Philippine Blog Awards. His posts, from basketball updates to Pacquiao stories, from haranguing of sports officials to celebrity-twitter-stalking, often started discussions among the blogosphere which, according to him, has been one of the reasons why he writes in the internet.

“My favorite part about writing, especially on the web, is the kind of discussion that my work is able to start. It’s always great when people start a stimulating conversation based on stuff I had written,” said the University of the Philippines Technology Management graduate.

 The self-confessed fan of gazillion of sports writers especially Inquirer’s Francis Ochoa, believes that In The Huddle is a good venue to produce tomorrow’s best sports writers. “Hopefully more than a handful of good writers will come out of these seminars.”

Tordecilla, currently working for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, quipped that his desire for encounters and conversations with sports stars and fans alike, has been his motivation to follow his dream of writing sports. As an advice to young and aspiring writers, he encouraged everyone to write despite being against the odds.

“Keep writing. Write even when no one’s paying you, even when no one’s reading you, even when no one thinks you’re good enough.”

He will be one of the speakers who will share their specialties in Adventurer In The Huddle 2010 National Sports Writing Congress this November and he has this to share to our participants: “[ITH] is going to be fun. I’ve been writing about sports from an outsider’s perspective, which allows me to be more irreverent, and hopefully that will translate to my talk. Also, I’ll try to work in jokes about Val Sotto.” ###

Adventurer In the Huddle 2010: Meet the Speakers: Francis T.J. Ochoa

Adventurer In the Huddle 2010: Meet the Speakers: Francis T.J. Ochoa: "PeerlessHis love for the game - and the craft - brings Francis Ochoa a cut above the rest By Mychael Thompson Miravite, The Playbook B R I ..."

Ano kayo ngayon?
Injured Squatters nip Insurance Street

A determined Road 23 Squatters squad served strong notice of its title-retention plans after scoring a heart-pounding 43-41 thriller over archrival Insurance Street Basketballers Wednesday night at the Road 23 basketball court in Quezon City.

Despite losing its main man in the paint George Nunez due to a freak collision with teammate Norman Romero just before halftime, the R23 Squatters put on a brilliant display of teamwork and steady playmaking as they uncorked a searing 10-2 run in the last two minutes to steal a win from a championship-thirsty Basketballers squad.

With their main men out, the Squatters banked on Mychael Miravite as he delivered 18 points on top of 11 rebounds and six steals.

"Langkwents mga kakampi ko. Mahirap, hampas-lupa, patay-gutom, kumakain ng panis na kanin! Muntik pa tuloy kaming matalo," said the 5-foot-4 forward who won the best player of the game honors.

The tall, dark, and handsome Nunez, who only played for 8 minutes in the game, finished with 10 points and eight rebounds while Patrick "The Korean" Corea pitched in nine points and 11 boards for the Squatters.

Miravite, who knelt, rolled onto his back, then realized he lost his wallet, poured in eight of his points in the last two minutes despite a thumb injury he sustained in their last training.

"Buti na lang magaling ako," said the gutsy freshman student off Quezon City Science High School. "Hindi ko rin alam na nakarami na ako ng score sa fourth quarter kasi nakakatawa 'yung mukha nung kalaban namin. Pero kung nakanino man ang wallet ko, sana may kaluluwa ka pa. Seryoso."

The Basketballers, known for their rugged game and their business of selling scrap metal to junk shops, were actually ahead, 39-31 with less than four minutes left, but they were shell-shocked as they watched Miravite, with a little help from point guard Henry Ong, erase their lead and pull off a two-point squeaker in the final tally.

"Tsamba. Hindi naman talaga magaling si Miravite eh. Di'ba bangko nga 'yun last game?" quipped an aghast Insurance Street head coach Ronnie Laserna who is now running as kagawad of Barangay Sangandaan but do not vote for him because he is a bad ass.

Miravite and the rest of the Squatters will face Remerville Subdivision Social Climbers on Tuesday for the last quarter finals berth.

A tough guy with a tough challenge:
Jonas Terrado

By Myke Miravite, Ignite Academic Training

Terrado: Kapag nagkamali,wag
masyadong madiscourage

“Kung gusto niyo magtrabaho rin sa major dailies, kailangan tatagan niyo lang ang sarili ninyo dahil hindi ganun kadali ang ganoong trabaho. But the key there is you enjoy what you are doing.”

A tough challenge from a tough man, eh? Well, expect more challenges from Jonas Terrado, sports writer of the Manila Bulletin and web writer for various sports leagues come November.

The 24-year-old Terrado, the Swiss Army Knife of Philippine Sports Writing, will be one of the tough guys who will be speaking in the ground-breaking Adventurer In The Huddle: 1^st National Sports Writing Congress 2010 in front of 500 sports writers and around 300 school paper advisers.

A product of De La Salle University-Dasmarinas, Terrado was also a tough chap in the basketball court during his varsity years in high school. He also writes for UAAP, NCAA, PBA, PBL, and Baseball Philippines.

When asked about his thoughts on having this big opportunity to share to young writers the many tricks he hides under his sleeves, he said it was also a big challenge for his part but he will be very glad to talk with them. “Kaya ako pumayag [na mag-speak sa In The Huddle]siguro challenge na rin sa akin ‘yan at siyempre makapagbigay din ng opportunity to teach some skills sa mga bata.”

As a recognized personality in the field of sports writing, his advice for our young sports scribes to succeed has been brutally honest and simple: “I think the key lang dyan is magbasa. Just get ideas on how to write stories then try to pattern it [after them] tapos i-apply ‘yun dun sa style mo,” he said. “Isang key rin doon ay i-enjoy lang ang iyong ginagawa. When you enjoy sports writing, I think dun lalabas ang creativeness mo and lastly learn from mistakes. Kapag nagkamali,wag masyadong madiscourage.”

Terrado will be lecturing about the dos and don’ts of sports coverage, and at the same time, he will be offering our participants a glance of the real thing—working in a pressure cooker of writing for a major daily.

“They should not miss this dahil simple ways lang ito ng pagkokober ng game na minsan medyo natatake for granted [especially sa world of campus journalism],” he added.

He also shared with us the perks and fulfillment he gets from writing sports. “Siguro ‘yung best thing sa field na to ay nakakacover ka ng mga great sporting events like the UAAP at tsaka you get to meet and talk with some of the sports personalities,” said Terrado. “At higit sa lahat, ikaw yung nagiging storyteller ng mga games and events na nacocover mo.”

Terrado also writes for Nike Summer League and De La Salle University-Dasmarinas’ Heraldo Filipino.

The Ed Ching and Sports Writing Love Affair

By Myke Miravite, Ignite Academic Training

Ching: This [Adventurer In The
Huddle] is going to be good... this
is unprecedented, and this is our
way of sharing our knowledge to
you, the future of sports writing. 

Been dreaming of seeing a Filipino in the big league? Well, Edison Ching has the big idea to make your dreams come true.

If you happen to pass by people in the street talking about Chris Tiu making it to the NBA, nine out of ten chances, they read it from Ed Ching’s blog. His blog, draftchristiu.wordpress.com, has been making waves in the sports online community. He justifies there what’s it gonna take for the NBA to draft the National Team starting guard and Filipino Ken Doll, Chris Tiu. As a BS Sports Communications graduate of International Academy of Management and Economics in Makati and Ca’ Foscari Formazione I Ricerica Venezia in Italy, Sir Ed is much more than a reliable source. He is a walking sports trivia book. And Adventurer In The Huddle National Sports Writing Congress takes pride in including him as one of the speakers who will enlighten our participants in November.

Sir Ed has been one of the speakers of last year’s successful first edition of In The Huddle. He was instrumental in Quezon City’s dominance in the field of campus sports journalism in the DepEd-sanctioned press conferences and contests. As he likes to put it, it was nothing but his love for sports that became his motivation in sharing the gospel of sports writing.

“As a student there wasn’t a lot of learning opportunity specifically for sports writing. To me, it is my way of giving back,” said Ching who is also the blogger behind DumbGenius.net. “Although I never took up journalism, I took up sports communications (which is close enough, I guess) and I see some areas where we can all improve just a little bit.”

As of May 2010, he has more than 28,500 Twitter followers and his Facebook Draftchristiu page reached 13,500 fans. Not bad and that’s because of sports writing.

When asked what our participants could expect in his talk, he said it will be a great opportunity for them to learn something that been sort of ignored by mainstream school subjects.

Though the idea of Chris Tiu dribbling along with the best basketball players in the world has not materialized in the latest draft, sir Ed’s hopes are still high and he said he would want to pass on the idea that stirred the internet world for the past months to our aspiring writers in the Adventurer-ITH 2010. “Pwede pa naman, he [Chris Tiu] is only 24,” Ching quipped.

Sir Ed has always been generous in sharing his knowledge of sports writing. As one of the speakers of Adventurer In The Huddle, he is looking forward to meet the future of sports writing in our country. “This is going to be good. For the first time ever an assortment of sports communication specialists will come together to help teach you. This is unprecedented, and this is our way of sharing our knowledge to you, the future of sportswriting."

100!

Yesterday (just a few minutes ago) was President Noynoy Aquino's 100th day as the most powerful man in a nation of more than 90 million. True, he has done missteps in the last few months but I believe he is still on-track despite the the major problems our country has faced. (Whew, I really don't know why it is so hard to resist inserting major-major in sentences like this.) Personally, I don't like Noynoy, even during the campaign season before May 10. I wanted Gibo to win the elections and to lead the Philippines. But when the votes were tallied, I had to give my hopes up. I was sensible enough to think that for us Filipinos, there is no better choice but to be united as a nation and to support PNoy's administration.

Yes, like many, I was not impressed nor stirred by Aquino's performance in his first hundred days in office. I questioned many of his decisions (being-too-good-to-be-true not deciding to live in the Palace and even contemplating of having their family's humble house in Times St. turned into the Presidential Residence; his absent-mindedness during and shortly after the Manila Hostage Taking; walking the streets of NY, instantly becoming a walking security nightmare not only for his PSGs but also to Uncle Sam's CIA; etc) during the most crucial of the times to falter. But he also made some good verdicts on making DOJ Sec. Leila de Lima the highest and most powerful official in the land during the IIRC proceedings; bringing home millions of dollars as pasalubong from his US tour; not marrying Shalani; and most of all, facing the wrath of the Catholic (taliban?) church when he pushed for the pushing of the Reproductive Health Bill.

The first 100 days of a presidency is not enough to judge if Noy handled our country's wheel well (or badly) but it is just a preview of the next few months to come. Like everybody, he has made some right decisions and some decisions that would drive Ninoy crazy. I will not rate his administration from 1-100, 100 being the highest. 85!


*******************

I've been pretty busy for the past few days. In The Huddle's just around the corner and so far, our promotions and preparations have been doing well (and kickin'!). I've been volun-told not to go home for the past week and do some typing, interviewing, researching, and some promoting for the company. Last week, I was in Iloilo promoting ITH but I was struck and killed by stage 2 dengue fever. Luckily, the docs have been busy enough not to prioritize slicing my chest and pulling out my organs to be thrown into a pit of hungry alligators. Five days later, I woke up and went back home to Manila to kill myself again. I just didn't want to die in the province.

I've been to Manila and Jejetown,* Bulacan too promoting Adventurer In The Huddle, and doing a cameo role for Okey ka Kokey the Movie.

Anyways, congratulations to my alma mater, Quezon City Science High School for placing fourth among the more than 100 schools from all around QC. You guys did a great job and I believe you can make it to the Nationals! (I really don't get it why some of the best-est writers usually lose in the Division-level while romping up the awards in the Regional, YMCA, Teodoro, and the Nationals. This jinx has hounded sports writers from QCSHS and other schools for years and the latest victims are Benson Lagason and Alexx Esponga (of JCSGO Christian Academy).

I also congratulate my friends from JCA who also won in the Divisions: Ima de Leon, 3rd in Online Writing, Bullet Sarte, also 3rd in Sports Writing, and to my friend I hate the most, Danielle Nakpil, 7th in Editorial Writing and 8th in Sports. Babawi tayo sa mga susunod na contests! Lalo na sa dyaryo! 


* San Jose del Monte City