THE Philippine Sports Commission is crafting a youth program that will align the Batang Pinoy national championships with the Department of Education’s Palarong Pambansa.
PSC chairman Patrick Gregorio said this as he laid out what will be in store with the agency’s youth sports initiatives next year.
“The kids who achieve a level, where they can compete internationally will have to show their talent in the Batang Pinoy and Palarong Pambansa. And this is where the PSC comes in,” said Gregorio, following the launch of the 2025 Batang Pinoy National Championships.
The agency seeks to find talented kids from a record number of 15,000 young athletes when it hosts the 2025 Batang Pinoy from October 25 to 31 in General Santos City.
The Batang Pinoy has a broad outlook as it opens its door to the out-of-school youth with its format.
The Palarong Pambansa, on the other hand, is exclusive to student-athletes, and is held every summer.
The PSC and the Department of Education (DepEd) are in talks on aligning their sports programs.
The two bodies recently collaborated to launch the country’s largest school-based weightlifting academy.
The initiative was part of a push to strengthen grassroots’ sports development and create a pipeline of future elite athletes.
So far, the Hidilyn Diaz Weightlifting Academy was formed following the talks, with Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and her academy leading the training component of the program.
