A proposal that will make the sports meet of the Negros Occidental Private School Sports, Cultural and Educational Association a week-long event will be one on the top of the agenda when the NOPSSCEA Board meets Wednesday, sports task force chairman Roger Banzuela said yesterday.

Unlike in the previous years when events are spread over the last few months of the school year, Banzuela said the grade school and high school competitions will be held for a week, similar to the Palaro of the Department of Education.

Banzuela did not name who were the NOPSSCEA officials who proposed the move, saying the board will have the final say on the recommendation. Under the proposal, the collegiate competition will also be held during the same week of the grade school and high school competitions.

But the scheduling of the developmental program, where athletes in the 10-Under and aspirants divisions belong, will be retained, Banzuela said.

Banzuela, the sports director of the University of St. La Salle, said the proposal has drawn mixed reactions from sports moderators of NOPSSCEA member-schools.

Those opposing the move want the NOPSSCEA sports program to be the same as in the previous years, when the games are held during weekends and run for more than two months, he said. "They feel that if the games are only held for a week, they will play less," he added.

But Banzuela said the NOPSSCEA is not inclined to spearhead the sports program of student-athletes in the province as he called on local sports associations and the private sector to support tournaments for student-athletes to fill the vacuum in the Negros sports calendar.

Banzuela also said he will suggest the scrapping of some events in the collegiate division because of the lack of teams. Among these events, he said, are swimming and lawn tennis.

Only La Salle has a collegiate lawn tennis and swimming teams, after University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos decided to stop creating teams for the two events.

Banzuela said that part of the NOPSSCEA team got drubbed by Iloilo in these events in the Regional PRISAA this year is the absence of local competitions in the sport. *CPT

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