History of Philippine Sports
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Philippine Sports History Articles Collection Compiled by Andrew Pirie ATFS Statistician Articles by Various Writers Baguio Teacher's Camp & History of Sports Baguio BAGUIO TEACHERS CAMP As I intend to head to the teachers camp this weekend I have done some background research into the camp as I was curious as how old it really is and as a fledgling historian I wanted to know a bit about its background. Here is what I found. The link to the full article is below I have just picked out the important parts. Teachers’ Camp opened its doors for its first season on April 6, and closed on May 30, 1908. A total of 217 adults and 24 children attended the camp. Lecturers were invited from universities and government offices from both the Philippines and the United States. There were regular lectures on General Anthropology and General Ethnology, Genetic Psychology and Present Day Educational Tendencies, Government of the United States and Contemporaneous Problems in Government, Heredity and Spanish. *From reading this they had a variety of higher level courses offered at the beginning of the 20th Century in a transitional period for the Filipino people. Teacher's Camp Fortunately, it was not all academic in Teachers’ Camp. Teachers’ Camp was also a vacation resort for teachers. The Camp successfully addressed a problem most American educators had while working in the Philippines: American educators did not have an easy time working here in the country. In most cases, these foreigners were assigned to schools where there weren't any other Americans for miles. When the American teacher was bored, lonely, depressed, or in need of any assistance, they had to rely on foreign people to assist them. Of course, there was nothing wrong with this. However, these Americans would sometimes miss the company of their friends and colleagues. Teachers’ Camp gave those Americans the opportunity to “socialize with people of their own race.” There were costume parties and dances at the Pines Hotel. There were various performances and shows to be watched, and the teachers even had the opportunity to perform in some. Believing that physical activity was important for the well-being of the person, Camp organizers made sure that there were outdoor activities for all visitors in the camp regardless of age, size, or sex. Baseball, basketball, gut of war, ball passing relay, potato relay, three jumps relay, and Indian wrestling are just some of the sports and games played at camp. Interestingly enough, there were even inter-institution competitions like Teachers’ Camp vs. the Camp John Hay team, Manila vs. the Government Center team. These competitions allowed teachers to meet even more people. This was the beginning of promotion of sports in the Philippines; I will link an earlier article soon on how the Americans introduced sports to civilize the people of Benguet to prevent them from practicing head-hunting and cannibalism. Through the years, it became clear that Teachers’ Camp remained a priority of both the Department of Public Instruction and the Philippine Commission. While during the early years participants used to live, eat and work in tents, the evident importance of Teachers’ Camp led the Department of Public Instruction and the Colonial Government to allocate funds for the Camp’s improvement. Dormitories, cottages, a social and mess hall were built. *In my next article on ghosts this will mention about the tent city of the teachers. Roads and paths within the camp were improved, and an athletic field was built. When it was completed, it was one of the most modern of its kind in the country. Important Americans like William Howard Taft, Paul Monroe, Cameron Forbes, Bishop Brent, and Dean Worcester, as well as important Filipinos – among them Gregorio Araneta, Camilio Osias, Rafael Palma and Juan Sumulong- recognizing the importance of Teachers’ Camp, walked its grounds. Due to the limitation of sources, the core of our research ends in 1913. After 1913, hardly anything is written about Teachers’ Camp in the Bureau of Public Instruction reports. The Teachers’ Assembly Herald also disappears after 1913. What is the exact reason for this? The authors of this paper are still exploring the answer However, in 1913; Harrison replaced Forbes as Governor General of the Philippines. One of the first changes he made was to stop moving the government to Baguio for the summer. As a result, Baguio for a while faded into the background as a priority. Other government offices probably followed Harrison’s example, preferring to focus on other matters. Of course, without the source, one can only speculate what happened to Teachers’ Camp thru the years. Was it because the number of American teachers was declining? Was the role of the Camp as a vacation destination changing as well? Perhaps. What is certain are the following facts: from 1936-1941, Teachers’ Camp became the PMA Campus; during the war it was the hospital for injured Japanese soldiers. Today, Teachers’ Camp continues to become an important vacation destination for Filipino educators. The camp bonfires and dances may be gone, but its role as host for various conferences and seminars continues. How big a role does Teachers’ Camp play in the history of the Filipino people and this nation? There are perhaps two important points to be addressed. First, Teachers’ Camp nurtured the intellectual, physical and social well-being of American educators. Americans really laid the foundations for our modern education system. Without American teachers, where would we be today? Certainly education in the Philippines would have taken a very different route. Second, it was in Teachers’ Camp that some of the policies and regulations that were to affect all the students in the entire country were introduced and discussed. Everything the teacher learned from Baguio would be applied to his/her students. You may be a student in the remotest part of the country, but you would still benefit from what was done in the Camp. Because of Teachers’ Camp, an entire nation was educated and shaped. It is the greatest role an institution could hope for, and this little corner of Baguio has that honor. (Karina Garilao, Jeric Albela, Jonathan Balsamo and Rior Santos) Article from http://www.heritage.org.ph/article.php?id=51 BAGUIO History of Sports A keen running tradition started in the mountains of Benguet with American colonialists introducing sports such as Baseball and cross country races to help civilize the people discouraging head hunting and cannibalism. The strong tradition of long distance running in the province continues to this day. Headhunting was the way in which the various wild tribes manifested their own mutual hostility. Inhabitants of rival villages took each other's heads as often as opportunity afforded, and by an elaborate savage code a man's social position was largely determined by the number of heads he was able to hang over his door. The Americans soon found that the feuds of the headhunting villages knew nothing of their neighbors. Indeed, headhunting was little more than a savage sport. "America and the Philippines" 1914 To bring the members of the different tribes and the inhabitants of different villages together was the task of the American authorities. To do this, trails were built, making the different communities easily accessible to each other. To replace the sport of headhunting, army officers introduced less bloody contest. Under the auspices of the army, and, later, of the constabulary; field meets were held in which headhunters from different villages were induced to compete in foot races, wrestling matches, tugs of war, etc. These contests at once became popular and are now most important events among the wild tribes. Cups are now competed for, and the contests have aroused so much interest that headhunting has been abandoned as a tame and uninteresting sport. Among some of the wild tribes, baseball has been introduced with a great deal of success, though often the catcher's mask and chest protector are the only garments worn by the players. Bontoc Igorot men at the finish line of a running race. 1910s Luzon Island, Philippines. Dean C. Worcester Nat’l Geographic Collections Colonial officials went to great lengths to teach Filipinos Western athletic games, such as this foot race with an American flag (on left) at the finish line. At the same time, they suppressed Philippine popular sports. Worcester’s caption: “Finish of the long distance run,” 1908. Location: Quiangan, Nueva Vizcaya Dean C. Worcester Ethnographic Filipino Images shared by: JBracken Plaque honoring Athletes who died in service in World War II to be restored By Andrew Pirie Jun 9, 2014 I want to note that Miss Nancy (curator of the PSC Museum), myself and PSC Engineer and PSL Technical Committee head Alfredo Mascardo Jr. We were able to solve the mystery of the three faded/missing names on the war Plaque outside the Basketball stadium in the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. The Plaque carries the name of thirty athletes who died in service during World War II. Due to age the Plaque only had a few letters left on which we needed to solve the names. However thanks to the article (below) by Eddie Alinea of Manila Standard we were able to identify the three faded names which will allow for the restoration of the War plaque in time for the centenary of Filipino sports being celebrated later this week. The three names were Aleyo Alvarez (Athletics) Carlos Canilas (Basketball) Jose Miranda (Football) Sports Heroes who displayed true heroism during the war By Eddie Alinea Manila Standard, June 8 2014 Filipinos who know their sports history recognize that it was swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso who gave the Philippines its first Olympic medal—a bronze in the 200-meter breaststroke in the 1928 Games in London.