Tete-a-tete with ITH’s big boss

 By Myke Miravite, Ignite Academic Training

Albelda: It is my desire talaga na 

ma-upgrade ang level ng sports journalism

in the Philippines. 

Gathering 500 campus sports journalists and around 300 school paper advisers from all over the country is a big, big task never been accomplished before.

But nothing could stop Ignite Academic Training director Josiah Albelda from achieving his dreams.

Albelda and his IAT, together with school supplies big name Adventurer, major dailies People’s Journal, The Manila Standard, and Business Mirror, in cooperation of Fullcourtfresh.com, Active White, JCSGO, and DZSR Sports Radio, will be organizing the biggest sports writing event in the country: Adventurer In The Huddle-2010 National Sports Writing Congress. Hundreds of sports scribes and publications advisers from elementary, secondary and tertiary levels are expected to attend the occasion happening this November 8, 10, and 12 at the JCSGO Seed Dome in Cubao, Quezon City.

As a campus sports writer during his high school days himself, the 22-year-old Albelda is seeing a brighter future for one of the most ignored aspect of journalism, sports writing. Drawing together sports writers from all over the country, and honing in them the love of the craft has been his long-time dream since accepting the job of being a school paper adviser and sports writing trainor in various schools across the region.

“It is my desire talaga na ma-upgrade ang level ng sports journalism in the Philippines. Being a campus journalist myself, alam ko kung gaano kahirap para sa school paper advisers ang sports writing kasi hindi siya nabibigyan masyado ng attention,” he said.

Now on its second edition, Adventurer In The Huddle is guaranteeing our young writers only the best Campus Journalism and Philippine Media can offer. Journal editor Bong Pedralvez takes the helm as ITH head trainor. Inquirer’s Francis Ochoa, Business Mirror columnist and University of the Philippines sports writing professor Tessa Jazmines, ABS-CBN’s TJ Manotoc, and Rafe Bartholomew, Harper’s Magazine-New York writer and Pacific Rims author are just some of our instructors who will be mentoring and guiding our aspiring writers throughout the weeklong congress.

“It’s not everyday that you will see the Philippines’ best sports media personalities under one roof. Getting the chance to learn from them is our main goal in ITH. Of course, nandun rin ang contests, freebies, and fun for everyone,” he added.

Albelda, school paper adviser of Ignite which was proclaimed the best high school publication in last February’s NSPC in Tagum, quipped that he is looking forward to see sports writers from all over the Philippines gathered to learn from the experts. “I feel really blessed because I get the chance to arrange an event like this and to share our knowledge not only to students here in Metro Manila, but also to our far-flung neighbors throughout Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.”

As a writer for Yahoo! Southeast Asia and a contributor to Inquirer Libre, he also shared the best things about working in his chosen field. “The best thing in sports writing is you get paid to do what you love; you meet and mingle with sports personalities, you get to watch games that fans would die for, and best of all, you get the chance to share your story to your readers.”

Competitions for school and university publications, as well as participating students and school paper advisers, will also spice up the event. A total prize pot of P100,000 in cash and in kind will be offered to the best delegates of the ground-breaking sports journalism activity.

Adventurer In The Huddle 2010 will also feature Solar Sports’ Patricia Bermudez-Hizon, Business Mirror sports writer and Ateneo de Manila University instructor Rick Olivarez, Manila Bulletin Sports Digest Magazine’s Tina Maralit, Manila Bulletin’s Jonas Terrado, In The Zone and DraftChrisTiu blogger Edison Ching, QC Science High School’s Rex San Diego, Fullcourtfresh’s Jenner Ong, and Albelda as trainors in the three-day event. A pair of sports stars of the past and the future will be featured as PBA legend Allan Caidic and UAAP 2010 MVP Ryan Roose Garcia grace the event.


In its first edition last year, ITH has been instrumental to a number of QC sports journalists in their winning in the Division, Regional, and National-level contests as well as to their school publications' bagging of string of awards from the RSSPC, the Metro-Manila-wide Teodoro Valencia Search, and the prestigious National Schools Press Conference.

When asked about how ITH will ensure that participants get nothing but only the best, Albelda—with a big smile on his face and a big vision for the event—just said “Come and they will see.”

Sign-up for this: In The Huddle 2010

What's this and what do we get from this?
In The Huddle 2010 is a national-level sportswriting congress catered for our country's future sports writers. The first-of-its-kind in the Philippines, it is patterned after international and high-class workshops and seminars that promises to deliver only the best the Philippine media can offer.

After a successful pioneering edition which produced numerous winners in both individual writing and sports section contests last year, ITH is bound to get bigger, better and bolder.

Veteran sports media personalities in the likes of ABS-CBN Sports' TJ Manotoc, Philippine Daily Inquirer's Francis Ochoa, Harper Magazine-New York editor and Pacific Rims author Rafe Bartholomew, among others will share their wealth of knowledge in sports writing, aiming not only to increase our sports scribes' skill level but also to foster in them the love of the craft.

We have designed a program synonymous to effectiveness and excellence; no frills and no spills. The participants will enjoy an interactive way of learning sports writing though talks, interviews, forums, contests (both for the students and the school organ), sports photography crash course, and even a campus media tour to offices of print and multimedia organizations and a taste of live-game coverage in the Philippine Basketball Association at the Araneta Coliseum.

Cash prizes and gift packs also await participants and winners in the contest events.

ITH2010 will not only be a memorable experience for the students, but will surely hone their skills in campus journalism and beyond.


Where are we going to stay during the congress?
ITH2010, with the cooperation of our official hotel partner, Kabayan Hotel, has arranged for our participants from the provinces discounted hotel packages throughout the week-long congress. Kabayan Hotel-Cubao is walking distance away from EDSA, Araneta Center, Aurora Blvd. and public transport main thoroughfares and just a jeepney ride away from the venue.


What makes this event a win-win opportunity for our school?
With veteran sports and media personalities from major dailies, radio and TV, and instructors from the top universities and respected high schools in the country, ITH 2010 is an offer unparalleled by others. Last year, In The Huddle proved to be instrumental to a number of Quezon City sports writers in their winning in the Division, Regional, and National-level contests as well as to their school publications' bagging of string of awards from the RSSPC, the Metro-Manila-wide Teodoro Valencia Search, and the prestigious National Schools Press Conference. This year wouldn't be any different. With much loaded roster of activities and well-known personalities to grace the event, In The Huddle 2010 promises you and your school only the best.


Who can join this and how do we register?
Students from elementary, high school, and college levels, both public and private, can join in the event.  Bona fide students from participating schools are eligible to compete in sports writing and sports photography (elementary, secondary, and collegiate-level) competitions while their school organs' latest sports section issue can compete in the search for the best sports section in the Philippines.

You can register by dropping by at the Ignite Academic Training Office, Unit 3A, Adelina I Condominium, Yale cor. Columbia Streets, Cubao, Quezon City (we are open Mondays to Fridays, 9am-7pm). You can also contact our Communications Unit at (0917) 478 3237 / (0923) 950 0320 or email us at igniteworkshops@rocketmail.com.

Registration fee for the three-day congress is pegged at Php 650.00 but pre-registrants who will register on or before October 20 will pay only Php 550.00. We are also offering a group package at Php 2,500.00 for a group of five delegates coming from the same school.

For more information, just feel free to inquire at the numbers given above or visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ith2010

By Myke Miravite, Ignite Academic Training

Step by step to a zero-footprint future

The world is on the verge of destruction and we humans are the primary cause of it. 

In times when humanity needs what nature provides, it is indispensable to know how much we’re using and how much we have to use. To measure humanity’s demand on nature, environmentalists in the United States came up with an idea. It aims to measure how much land and water a human population requires to produce the resource it consumes and to absorb its wastes, using prevailing technology. They called it the Ecological Footprint. 

Our environment’s situation has gone from bad to worse. Since the 70’s, humanity has been in ecological overshoot, with annual demand on resources exceeding what earth can regenerate each year. As of this decade, the earth takes a period of one year and five months to regenerate what we use in a year or an equivalent of 1.4 planets to provide the resources we use and absorb our waste—a clear sign of something bad happening. 

Overshoot is a vastly underestimated threat to human well-being and to the health of the planet. According to a United Nations report, by the middle of the next decade, we will need the equivalent of two earths to support us. And of course, we only have one. Badly, it is also not adequately addressed with most of us ignoring the signs of it. Most of the time, people know it, but we tend to ignore it. 

In some areas of the world, the implications of ecological deficits can be devastating, leading to resource loss, ecosystem collapse, debt, poverty, famine, and war. 

The good news is it is not too late for us and planet earth. We can still maintain this overshoot by liquidating earth’s resources—recycling, eating naturally-produced foods, and less use of fossil fuels. The antidote to this problem is very simple. Paradoxically, people seem to be ignorant about it. 

By measuring the Footprint of a population, whether it’s of an individual, city, business, nation, or of all of mankind, we can assess our pressure on the planet, which helps us manage our ecological assets more wisely and take personal and collective action in support of a world where humanity lives within the earth’s bounds.
In today’s world where humanity has already exceeded earth’s limits, ecological assets are becoming more critical. Many countries are already running ecological deficits, with footprints larger than their own capacity. It is high time to change the norm. We have to make securing the future a top priority. We should protect our biggest resource—the planet earth. Myke Miravite

Blue reigns in Game 1; Eagles shame out-of-sync Tams

Blue reigns in Game 1

Eagles shame out-of-sync Tams

By Danielle Nakpil and Myke Miravite, Ignite and Ignite Academic Workshops :)

The Eagle soared high above the mud paddling Tamaraws.

The Ateneo Blue Eagles dismantled the overconfident yet sluggish Far Eastern University Tamaraws in an easy 72-49 trouncing in Game 1 of the UAAP Season 73 men’s basketball finals Saturday afternoon.

The Katipunan five sizzled early, dropping a 17-2 bomb in the first quarter that buried the FEU squad in a 26-8 lead in which they weren’t able to recover.

Having a flawless 14-0 slate in the elims, the Morayta-based squad seemed too confident of their previous performances and lost focus on the game that really mattered, missing 25 of 32 firings in the first half.

“We just did a good job preparing,” said Coach Norman Black who is eyeing for his 3^rd straight championship with Ateneo. “We're happy. We're excited. But we're not overconfident.”

After FEU won in their last two meetings in the elims, the Blue Eagles bounced back as they scored 15 fastbreak points while forcing the Tamaraws to turn the ball over 13 times.

“It wasn't just me. I think I just led them but it was actually a total team effort,” said Kirk Long who sported a golden hairdo. “It was all worth the preparation.”

The determined Ateneo squad leaned on Long’s all around game, finishing with 14 markers, five boards and two steals while Eman Monfort who was earlier awarded as this year’s Most Improved Player added nine points, seven rebounds and four assists to tame the crown hungry Tamaraws.

But it was the leech like defense that made wonders for the Loyola based cagers.

The lanky 6’5 center JP Erram, who averages minimal minutes on the court, shone this time for the Blue Eagles as he led his team in the defensive end, posting 5 blocks coming with 4 points and 3 rebounds.

"Matagal na naming pina-practice yun (containing FEU's bigs)," Erram said. "Ginawa ko lang yung role ko kase kailangang mag step up."

The dynamic duo of Season’s MVP Ryan Roose Garcia and Rookie of the Year Terrence Romeo failed to carry FEU with barely 11 and 10 points as the rest of the team scored a woeful 27% from the floor.

"I am embarrassed," said Athletic Director Mark Molina of his team's showing. "We were completely outplayed. We let everybody down. We surrendered."

The FEU Tamaraws are looking forward for sweet revenge on Game 2 of their best of three finals showdown with the Ateneo Blue Eagles on Thursday at the Araneta Coliseum.