It’s been two weeks now since I had my last post here. I simply didn’t have the chance. Since Feb. 5, I was focused on the PRISAA, its coverage, specifically, and the press center that I had to help set up. The task was not as easy as we thought it was. In the accreditation of local media practitioners alone, there were some issues, such as: how many reporters will we accredit per outlet? This was crucial because the holding of the games simultaneously in different venues would need more than just one reporter per, say, radio station.
In the end, we decided to accredit everyone who has press credentials. We had feared for an overcrowded press center, with each media practitioner elbowing one another just to get a space. But in the end, there were only a few of them who came to actually cover. At any given time, there were only 10 to 12 people in the press center, including those who are from the Visayas and Mindanao.
But what impressed me was how colleagues Yolly, Eva, Cesar and Ray covered the PRISAA for their respective papers. I remember them complaining on day one that their editors sent them there over their vehement objections because they do not know sports writing. Having no choice, they had to sit down in front of the Internet-ready computers at the press center the whole day, browse through the games results and email their stories. Ray and Cesar, for their part, exposed themselves to the searing sunlight just to get the best photos. All four would proudly heave a sigh of relief when they see their works in their papers’ sports pages laid out prominently.
To me. the experience had no price. It was one learning that comes once in a lifetime.
