my loser tag

when i was in high school, i lobbied to get into the sports beat of our school paper. i literally pleaded with brizo (aileen grace), our editor-in-chief, my hopeful intentions. my prose then was dreadful but my enthusiasm was overwhelming. i was into the carl lewis-magic johnson world big time. i had fondness for the sports beat even in my whimsical youth.
i reckon i co-edited the page with fritz, the student from the other class, who was the much better writer. but come RSSPC ( regional secondary schools press conference ) time, the annual writing event marked in every high school paper calendar. i was chosen to join the contingent for the writing competition. i had absolutely no idea why our adviser opted for me to contend in sports writing and represent the school in the rsspc in janiuay, iloilo.

at the time, despite cutting my teeth playing tingayuhanay in our etcs football field, i couldn't grasp the rudiments of football. i also alluded to the blatant reality that i was among the hypnotized shrieking fans of the national coke-go-for-goal players from two years prior to the invitation. who was the guy i was rooting for? i remember the boy but i can't remember the name. who would pay attention to the game when there were cute boys around? but back to the contest. since it was held in iloilo, the sports topic was of course about football. my verbs got confused on the spot and i sucked big time and didn't qualify for the nationals. i knew i lacked preparations but i should have done better. i was also entered in the newswriting category held at the same time. news was just thrown into my lap at the last minute as the original entrant backed out. i think i did news first then proceeded to the sports booth. maybe i would have done differently if my two categories weren't linked.

i was the big loser in our group. brizo won. honey, my BFF won two contests and was adjudged the highest pointer in the nationals held in tacloban, leyte. eduardo (edu) won. agnes and sigrid who were delegates from other schools won. alan john may not have brought home a medal from the awarding ceremonies but became one of our class most distinguished achievers. still the exposure didn't shatter my confidence. i didn't get the chance to enter any more competitions. but i'd like to think i did improve. i've studied harder, dug deeper and learned the proper mechanics from the vitriolic criticisms.

i took delight in every moment of school paper life, especially when i edited my college sports pages. i know tackling sports topics is not as lofty as feature or literary writing. but it's not too shabby either and i've certainly relished the breaks that have come my way because i not only know my way around the sports channels and it opened doors to new friends and some enchanting horizons.