DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental (PIA) — Starting in September, the PlanOut Sports & Fitness Festival (PSFF) Dumaguete edition 2024 will launch its sports festival featuring various sports activities, conferences, and exhibitions in the city.
Dumaguete City is touted as a sports tourism hub in central Philippines for organizing and hosting several national events.
Athletes and sports enthusiasts are invited to join its 22 diverse sports events where top coaches and experts from around the world will share their knowledge and skills in various fields of sports.
This event is designed to bring the community together through exciting sports competitions, fitness challenges, and fun activities for all ages.
This also promotes culture of sports and fitness while boosting tourism, commerce, and entertainment.
During the press launch on July 8, PlanOut co-founder Kim Joseph Llena announced that the sports fest will last the entire month to provide ample time for executing what they call ACE, which stands for Activities, Conferences, and Exhibitions.
“So that is one of the goals as well, that we want the athletes to be highlighted and as well as the sports,” Llena said.
“Especially katong mga wala pa mailhi like pickleball, round net, and daghan pa unta ta mga sports na ganahan sila ma-introduce,” he added.
(Especially those sports that are not common, like pickleball, round net, and a lot more sports that we wanted to be introduced)
The PSFF will feature 22 different types of sports, such as urban camping, wall climbing, MTB XCE & XCC, and many more.
Around 12 conferences are set with various focuses, where expert speakers from both national and international backgrounds will come to Dumaguete to share their expertise.
Additionally, the exhibition will allow businesses specializing in sports to showcase their products and services to potential customers during the event.
Paultom Paras, president of NorSports, said they wanted to create a venue managed by a private group in organizing a sports festival.
“Kay if mag sports ta naa man tay (If we do sports, we have) fitness so we put it into one with the help of PlanOut, with you, the press, and I think that this collaboration will go a long, long way,” Paras said.
PSFF organizers aim to promote physical and mental health by encouraging sports participation.
“We are not businessmen, but we are sportsmen, but we are also thinking about the cause-benefit effect. We think of the benefit for the children and for the community to produce healthy citizens and that is the benefit,” said Roger Banzuela, the founding president of the Philippine University Games and chairman of the membership committee of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation. (JCT/PIA7 Negros Oriental with reports from Joriz Angel Palermo, SU Intern)
