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Throwback: The Philippine Olympic Festival (POF) led to the exponential growth of the Philippine Wrestling community in the late 2000s.

Before the Philippine National Games (PNG), the POC - Philippine Olympic Committee - Olympic.PH held the annual Philippine Olympic Festival (https://www.dilg.gov.ph/issuances/mc/2007-PHILIPPINE-OLYMPIC-FESTIVAL-ANNUAL-MULTI-SPORT-EVENT/661) to discover new talents for the country’s national sports teams. The POF was a multi-sport event that held regional qualifiers culminating in a national championship from 2006 to 2008.

The POF was also instrumental in the significant growth of wrestling clubs throughout the archipelago. And this is how it happened:

One day in late 2006, an assistant coach of the Philippine National Wrestling Team, who often visited the office of the Wrestling Association of the Philippines (WAP) at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, learned from the office secretary that the POC had long sent an invitation letter to the WAP to join the second edition of the POF in early 2007—and the WAP leadership at that time appeared disinterested, as it had yet to respond to the longstanding invite and had not even informed the national coaching staff about it even when the first regional leg was already fast approaching. The assistant coach strongly protested the inaction, especially because it would be at minimal cost to the WAP in the first place, with the POC/POF shouldering the major expenses for the logistics and technical committees of all participating sports. The assistant coach also knew that it would be crucial for the grassroots expansion of wrestling nationwide.

The leadership of WAP immediately relented and even assigned the agitated assistant coach, with additional allowance, to the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) to help organize clubs and recruit participants for the POF from the northern region known for its strong combat sports athletes. The president of the WAP at that time even hosted the assistant coach at his Baguio City residence for a briefing. As a result of the meeting, new wrestling clubs were organized, and training seminars were conducted in various regions across the country. In the end, WAP, with its old and new clubs, and the Philippine National Wrestling Team coaching staff (led by Head Coach Enrique Tuya) serving as the technical committee, successfully participated in the 2007 and 2008 POF. Also, new and deserving athletes were discovered and recruited for the national wrestling team. Hence, the majority of the wrestling clubs that have been actively participating in wrestling competitions since the late 2000s saw their beginnings from WAP’s efforts to participate actively in the POF.

Two of the brightest discoveries from the POF are Southeast Asian Games gold medalists, and now Philippine National Wrestling Team coaches Jason Balabal (Ifugao/CAR, POF 2007; top photo) and Alvin Lobrequito (Quezon City/NCR, POF 2008; bottom photo).

(And what about the debut of wrestling in the 2014 Palarong Pambansa? One afternoon in 2013, the previously mentioned former Philippine National Wrestling Team assistant coach accompanied his sister in meeting an old friend at the Department of Education-National Capital Region office. While there, on a whim, he decided to drop by the office's Public Elementary and Secondary Schools & Special Education division to inquire if wrestling can be included in the NCR qualifiers even if the sport was not yet an official event of the Palarong Pambansa. It was a sweet surprise when he was informed that there was already a new law for the Palarong Pambansa, and accordingly, wrestling was already included in the annual sports event! But that is another story ...)