She is a mother of champions.  All the  two children – both daughters  — of Maria ‘Mayang’ Delfin De Oro, who will celebrate her golden birth anniversary  three months from now, hold the rare accomplishment of being national champions in school-based competitions.

Elder daughter Mayven, a fresh graduate of Computer Science at St. La Salle, was a Palaro champion in discus throw during her high school days and later ruled the same event in the collegiate PRISAA Meet.  Youngest daughter, Maika, at 13,  a high school freshman, became a  discus throw double winner and record holder when she topped the Palaro in Princesa last month in record-breaking fashion following her standard-setting effort in the grade school competition in the Koronadal Palaro last year.

Such accomplishment and other special occasions for the De Oros, call for a celebration – a treat of two big plates of double-crust pepperoni-flavored pizza, a gallon of either double dutch or cookies ice cream, pancit malabon  and, yes, chicken inasal, with two bottles of big-sized Coke, Mayang said.

The two daughters are following the footsteps and tracks  of Maria, a native of Roxas City, and Manuel ‘Tawi’ De Oro, the provincial sports development office head, a  former Southeast Asian Games  bronze medalist and national record holder  in both decathlon and pole vault.

Mayang  and Tawi started their ties in 1974  when they were both members of the Negros Occidental stable of athletes under the Paglaum banner founded by the late former gov.  Alfredo Montelibano Jr.   Setting marks in throwing events, Mayang was a silver medalist in discus and shot put in the 1981 ASEAN Juniors’ championship when she was 22.

A promising spiker and athlete, she had played  volleyball for the champion West Negros team in her college days but later chose the  individual track-and-field  event after she earned a slot in the national Gintong Alay camp in Baguio and trained side by side with Lydia De Vega, among others. “In athletics, I own my time and need not worry about how others perform unlike in team sports which required a lot of time to practice,” she said as she explained why she turned down the opportunity to be a member of the national volleyball team.

Varsity life in college meant she had to wake up early and was already at the oval by 6:30 a.m.  and by 5:30 p.m, she was in her volleyball suit for her rigorous practices. The demands of her sporting life took a toll on her studies that she had to stop schooling on her junior year as a Commerce student. When she trained in Baguio , she cross enrolled as the University of Baguio but, again, the training schedule was too grueling for her academic work.

Tawi, who personally trained his two daughters enroute to clinching national titles,  has a collection of medals himself. “He has  more than 50 gold medals to show off,” Mayang said, “and as his wife, I am truly proud of.”

The same amount of discipline – along  with proper time management —  is what Mayang, now a  messenger of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan after also serving as provincial jail guard, and her husband,  has instilled in her two girls. If there are two traits I’d like my daughers to master, these are time management and self discipline, she stressed.

At the same time, she reminds them that while they aim for higher goals in athletics, they should not forget the value of education because “this is far more important than the gold medals they have brought home and the records they have established.”

For Mayang, raising a family of champion athletes is like preparing for an event. “Children need special attention – from the food they eat, the vitamins they take and the daily routines they have to observe,” she said.

Asked on her formula as a good mother, she shared “the do” guidelines she came across more than 10 years ago from an article by Shirley Matias Pizzaro, which she considers “very helpful for parents and wives who want to maintain a healthy relationship with their children and husbands”. Her list shows the following tips.

1.   Do be a good example to your children.

2.   Do provide for them.

3.   Do discipline them.

4.   Do be patient with them.

5.   Do provide a home where they can find happiness and contentment.

6.   Do listen to what your children have to say.

7.   Do be genuinely interested in your children’s undertakings and be generous with your support for them.

8.   Do be honest to them.

9.   Do enjoy your children.

Daughter Mayven appreciates her mother’s concern as she pointed out  that Mayang “is a protective mother, who wants them not to attend parties unchaperoned.” She really knows how to take care of us, that’s why ‘gagmay’, kami, she adds in a lighter mood.

She describes Mayang as a very industrious woman, who does the  household chores, adding she is their No1. 1 cheerer, along with her father, and the first one to cry when they don’t fare well in competitions.

While she is happy with the accomplishments of her daughter, Mayang , having played her role as mother, coach and mentor to her children is firm on the ground in emphasizing to them the common denominator – that being a champion is not all about winning but developing the desire to win – and winning people on your side when the occasion calls for it. And lightly she said, with the way things are for Maika, she anticipates more pizza, ice cream and inasal.

Her goals are not hitched to acquiring more medals but “the simple pleasures I find in taking care of my husband and children.”

And to that, her husband  affirms that Mayang is, more than just a mother of champions. “She is a champion mother herself,” he reiterated adding that they never fight at home and she’s an A-1 mother in caring not only for him but, more so, for her two daughters.  “She is the best mother,” he further said.