ZamboSur Integrated Sports

(This nomination paper was submitted last year to Galing Pook Award, a national awarding body.)

         Sports development used to be pathetic in Zamboanga Del Sur. Though financially and logistically supported by the provincial government, The sports development program then was mainly handled by the provincial office of the education department (DepEd), as part of its national mandate to promote sports as an integral part of the basic education curriculum (BEC). Ever since, the provincial sports delegation had not achieved better than placing fourth in the overall standing of the regional sports competition. The athletes lacked the appropriate training and had no access to the necessary sports facilities and trained coaches. Without any sporting success to show and to raise the morale of its athletes, sporting participation in the elementary and high schools province-wide was very low, and the youth had much idle time.

Meanwhile, Zamboanga Del Sur used to be a hotspot of drug addiction in Mindanao. The Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) used to identify the province in its watch list. The drug menace bred more delinquent youths and spawned more crimes. The youths who had so much idle time were prone to get lured to drug abuse. Addressing this problem of drug abuse cost much money for the government --the law enforcers and the local government units, to gather intelligence info and conduct operations.

Faced with these problems when he assumed the gubernatorial office in 2010, Governor Antonio Cerilles came up with a solution that practically hit two birds with one stone. His office initiated in August 2012  the Zamboanga del Sur Integrated Sports Development Program (ZDSASDP) in partnership with the DepEd and the 26 municipal governments of the province.  Reengineering the previous sports development program and using sport as a tool for positive change, the ZDSISDP aims to mold youths to become champion athletes and models of clean and healthy living, to increase sporting participation province-wide, and to help divert youths away from the abuse of illegal drugs. It is a beyond sports program. To mold champion and model athletes, the provincial government established the Zamboanga Del Sur Sports Academy for high school students. To increase sporting participation, the ZDSISDP assigned and deployed province-wide sports coordinators from the DepEd, the municipal governments, and the provincial government for sports promotion. To divert youths away from illegal drugs, model athletes inspire them, and sporting participation fills their idle time and inculcates in them self-confidence, discipline, healthy living, and other values inherent in sports. 

An essential aspect of the Zamboanga del Sur Sports Academy is integrating sports training program into DepEd's junior and senior high school academic program. While the students attend the regular high school curricula, they also attend training on their chosen sport specialization. They follow a disciplined schedule: training sessions in the morning, attend classes, and train some more in the afternoon. With all the required facilities and amenities together in one location, such as school buildings, athletes' dormitory, and sports facilities and with access to the individualized services of the Sports Academy, the athletes are placed in a very conducive setting to excel in sports and become model athletes, as they also prepare themselves for college education.

Positive Results and Impact

Having trained model athletes, hosted high-profile significant sporting events, and increased sporting participation, the ZDSISDP helps divert youths away from the abuse of illegal drugs.

The Sports Academy trains around 300 student athletes a year. Provincial government-paid trainers and coaches rigorously help them develop their sports skills, while DepEd teachers tutor them in preparation for higher education. To boost their training, the Academy provides the athletes proper nutrition and full access to the modern sports complex constructed by the provincial government. Being well-trained and conditioned, these athletes along with some gold medalists from other schools during the provincial sports events have dominated the regional sports competition as the overall champion for the past three consecutive years, a far cry from being stuck, at best, in the fourth place in the past. As these athletes are locals and just like any other teenagers in the neighborhood, they inspire other youths in the province to perceive that sporting success is attainable by anybody who devotes their time and energy to it.

Meanwhile, the sports complex made primarily for the athletes also serves as a venue to host significant sporting events. With complete facilities and billeting accommodation, the complex has successfully hosted three regional sports competitions of the DepEd with around 6000 delegates and two Batang Pinoy national games competition of the Philippine Sports Commission with about 5000 delegates. These high-profile sporting events contributed to the perception that sport is an engaging and rewarding experience.

The combination of the perceptions that sporting success is attainable and that sport is an engaging and rewarding experience has motivated the youth in Zamboanga Del Sur to participate in sports. Since the start of the program, the sporting participation in Zamboanga Del Sur has almost doubled.

The increase in sporting participation, in turn, led to the reduction of drug-related cases and other juvenile delinquent cases in Zamboanga Del Sur. Sporting participation occupies the time of the youth and reduces the amount of unsupervised time during which delinquency may occur. Secondly, sporting participation exposes the youths to positive influences encouraging conformity to social norms and values that prevent them from committing misconduct. Lastly, sporting participation increases self-confidence and self-discipline, keeping them away from delinquent behavior.  In a speech during the recent Palarong Pambansa 2018, President Duterte himself acknowledged that "sport serves as an avenue to divert the youth from illegal drugs, criminality, and other lawless acts."

Drug addiction, like other delinquent behavior, occurs when the time of the youth is idle and unsupervised by their family, school, or other authority figures. When sports occupy the time of the youths and expose them to positive role models and influences, along with strict law enforcement, the number of drug-related cases and other juvenile delinquency cases,  goes down, such as what happened in Zamboanga Del Sur (See Figures 1 and 2). Note that this downtrend of juvenile delinquency and drug-related cases, about half of which involved youths, started even before the war on drugs of President Duterte.

Fig. 1 Drug-related cases recorded by PDEA   
    

2014		207
2015		196
2016		175
2017		74

Fig. 2 Juvenile delinquency cases recorded by PNP

2014		90
2015		79
2016		73
2017		48

Diverting youths away from illegal drugs and other criminalities is the most significant impact of the Beyond Sports Program. No amount of investment is too costly to match its tremendous community benefit. The Program is about saving young lives that could have lost due to drug addiction or punishment of a crime.  The program is about protecting the youth from the evils of illegal drugs that they may be ready to chart a brighter future. The program is not merely meant to bask in the glory of feel-good results of winning games to help boost the community's morale; it is primarily intended to prepare the youth for nation-building. It is indeed a beyond sports program.

Promotion of People's Participation and Empowerment

The provincial government of Zamboanga del Sur successfully implemented the ZDSISDP through multi-stakeholder partnerships in planning, implementation, and monitoring /evaluation. This kind of collaboration spawned the sense of community ownership of the program.

In the planning stage, the provincial government conducted a series of consultations on sports development with DepEd officials down to the division levels and with officials of the 26 municipal governments of the province. The division-level education officials then re-echoed consultative conferences and meetings down to the school levels. They identified the needs, analyzed the problems, and recommended the solutions and next steps. A crucial part of the solution was the establishment of the Sports Academy.

In the implementation stage, the key stakeholders --provincial government, DepEd, and 26 municipal governments-- fulfilled their roles and responsibilities that they had agreed upon in the consultations to attain the program objectives.  Often, they performed their tasks through their implementing arms - the provincial sports coordinators, coaches and trainers, the DepEd sports coordinators and coaches, and the municipal sports coordinators. These implementing arms ensured the success of the sport-specific tryouts, school intramurals and inter-school sports competitions at the municipal level; inter-municipal sports competitions in the cluster-of-municipalities level, and inter-cluster sports competition at the provincial level. Out of the sport-specific tryouts and series of sports competitions, the coordinators select the potential athletes that could further develop in the academy and are qualified to compete in the regional sports games. On the other hand, the municipal governments assist the transportation and logistical needs of their respective athletes during municipal and cluster-level competitions.

Moreover, the municipal governments are responsible for upgrading the sports facilities and equipment in their respective towns. The district representatives also provide financial assistance for the upgrading of sports facilities and equipment. Meanwhile, the provincial government constructed the big and modern sports complex wherein the sports academy was built. The provincial government runs the academy with the help of DepEd admin and teaching staff. It also assists in the transportation and logistical needs of the athletes during provincial and regional level competitions.

In the monitoring and evaluation stage, the stakeholders again cooperate by performing their tasks. Firstly, the DepEd and municipal sports coordinators monitor the extent of sporting participation down to the school level. Secondly, the provincial trainers and coaches monitor the performance of the athletes in the training and competitions, especially those trained at the Sports Academy. The Academy also checks the athletes, whether they serve as models of clean and healthy living in their communities. Monitoring reports are then submitted to top officials to guide decision making. Thirdly, the municipal,  DepEd and provincial officials observe the performance of the athletes during sports competitions to better understand the program status as shown in the monitoring reports and to be in a better position to decide on how to develop the program further.

The provincial government realized the ZDSISDP through the active participation of each stakeholder. Each stakeholder takes responsibility and performs its duties. Because of this vibrant cooperation that makes this program successful, the sense of community ownership of this program naturally comes to each stakeholder.

Innovation

The main innovation of the ZDSISDP is the establishment of the Zamboanga Del Sur Sports Academy. It is the first and only sports academy in the country that is run by a local government unit. At least five other provinces also plan to open a sports academy but with funding from the national government; their plan has not materialized yet as its supporting legislation remains pending in Congress. Given the importance to address illegal drugs and juvenile delinquency, the provincial government of Zamboanga Del Sur took up the challenge of establishing the Sports Academy with its resources.

The operations of the Sports Academy is also very innovative. Firstly, it is co-managed by the provincial government and the DepEd. The provincial government provides financing to the Academy from its general fund (GF) and special education fund (SEF), as the DepEd details personnel in the Academy to fill in the administrative and teaching positions. This partnership provides an innovative venue for DepEd to fulfill its mandate to promote sports as an integral part of BEC.  This scheme ensures that the student-athletes get an academic education according to the DepEd standards in preparation for a college education.

Secondly, another uniqueness of the Academy is its tutorial classes and sports training given to some elementary students in spite of its being a high school institution. These tutorial classes and sports training opened after the school management had realized that winning athletes take time to develop.  Many athletes in the Academy were already about to graduate when they developed well enough their sports skills. Thus, to ensure that the Academy could still reap the fruits of its investment in the athletes in their prime years, these elementary tutorial classes opened. Thirdly, the Academy provides completely free education to its athlete-scholars, granting them free tuition, uniform, board and lodging, and free access to the various services and facilities of the Academy. This inclusive arrangement provides an equal chance to all the youths in the province, regardless of their economic background, to develop their sports skills and prepare for college education, as long as they perform their duties and responsibilities as model athletes of the province. This arrangement is also most fitting to its athlete-scholars, who mostly belong to a low-income family.

The most impactful innovation of the ZDSISDP, however, is on how it deals with the evils of dangerous drugs. Often, governments treat illegal drug trade only as a law enforcement problem. This strategy assumes that by reducing, if not annihilating, the suppliers of illicit drugs, you can stop the problem. This one-sided strategy usually fails because when the demand for the illegal drugs market remains, other suppliers may come in. On the other hand, the ZDSISDP fills in the gap in dealing with the illicit drug problem. This beyond-sports program complements the efforts of law enforcement agencies that are mandated to reduce the supply side of the illegal drug problem. The program seeks to reduce the demand side of the problem, as well, by diverting youths away from illicit drugs.  It aims to bring the youths toward a positive environment conducive for them to prepare for their duties and responsibilities in nation building. Indeed, the ZDSISDP completes the proactive and holistic approach of the provincial government to combat the illegal drug trade.

Transferability and sustainability

The provincial government has ensured the institutionalization and sustainability of the program by securing the legal basis of the program, tapping key stakeholders with mandates aligned with the program, and registering the Sports Academy as a DepEd high school. Firstly, the provincial government and the DepEd worked together through the provincial school board in finalizing the concept and plan of the ZDSISDP and in establishing the Sports Academy. The provincial school board then secured the approval from the national office of the DepEd for the Sports Academy to offer Special Program in Sports. The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Zamboanga del Sur, in a resolution, also approved the implementation plan of the ZDSISDP and the establishment of the Sports Academy. Secondly, the mandates of the DepEd and the provincial and municipal governments all call for each of them to sustain the program. The DepEd is primarily mandated to promote sports as an integral part of the basic education curriculum.

On the other hand, all the LGUs are mandated to be of service to their constituency that includes the protection of the youth from illegal drugs, which is achievable through sports. Thirdly, since the Sports Academy is registered as an annex to a regular DepEd high school –Locuban National High School, the DepEd is obliged to sustain it even after the present administration. However, it would not be difficult for DepEd to do it, as it already has personnel detailed in the administrative and teaching positions of the Academy. With all these sustainability measures in place, this beyond sports program along with the Academy is here to stay even after the present administration of the provincial government.

The ZDSISDP may be replicated in other parts of the country as all DepEd schools are mandated to promote sports. To do it, the LGUs have to partner with DepEd and utilize sports to effect positive change, particularly concerning the illegal drugs problem and juvenile delinquency. All LGUs also have access to special education fund (SEF) which is set aside from local taxes and can be used to fund this kind of sports initiative. A few may resist this kind of effort, especially those who benefit from the misuse of SEF. However, extensive consultations among DepEd, LGUs, and other stakeholders can easily surmount any obstacle. The community benefit of this kind of initiative is clear, and it would be unlikely for some people to block it openly.  The important thing is to let as many people as possible know about the strategy and benefits of this initiative through consultations, so that they may claim ownership of it and actively get involved in it.