To ensure that the facilities built by the government for the 30th Southeast Asian Games will still going to be useful even after the said event, the government bared their plan to build a school for sports prodigies.
The government is planning to build the Philippine High School for Sports at the New Clark City in Tarlac to give a six-year scholarship for promising athletes that could represent the Philippines in big sports events.
Bases and Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) President Vince Dizon said that it’s already the right time for the government to build a school specializing in sharpening the talents of the athletes while studying at the same time.
“Right now, we have the Philippine Science High School, we have the Philippine High School for the Arts, but we don’t have a Philippine High School for Sports,” said Dizon.
According to Dizon, the Philippine High School for Sports is going to offer scholarships for six years with free lodging at the Athlete’s village in New Clark City.
“This is going to be a fully subsidized high school from junior to senior, where we will have scholars who will be recruited through the Philippine Sports Commission and from the Department of Education,” Vince explained.
“They are going to be our top age groupers for all the sports—athletics, aquatics, football, gymnastics, boxing, all these other sports. They will also have access to the facilities here,” he added.
Athlete’s Village at Clark New City
They’re hoping that the Philippine High School for Sports is going to start its first class in 2021.
Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Christopher “Bong” Go also expressed their support in building the Philippine High School for Sports.
“With the creation of the Philippine High School for Sports in very close proximity to world-class facilities…our student-athletes can enjoy a level of training which is at par with the best in the world,” Go said.
“This type of training and education can catapult our student-athletes to illustrious careers in sports, whether as athletes, coaches, managers, or any other sports-related profession,” he added.