AS part of her health advocacy program, neophyte congressman Dr. Patsy Calderon of the seventh district of Cebu will be staging the first ever Calderon Cup, a multi-event. multi-stage grassroots development program this year.
The first event of the year-long program is the basketball competition for the Under 21s set to kick off on March 21, 2026.
“As we all know, Congresswoman Patsy is a doctor by profession and one of her advocacies is health and this grassroots sports program is one aspect of that,” said Atty Ramil Abing during the coordination meeting with the sports coordinators of the seventh district held at the Moalboal Municipal Hall.
Atty. Abing is one of the commissioners of the Calderon Cup along with veteran basketball organizer Jun Migallen and head of referees Rey Canete of the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas.
The U21 competition, which is for residents only, is aimed at giving exposure to deserving players of Southern Cebu with the hope that some of them will eventually earn athletic scholarships.
The teams are divided into two groups with each group playing a double round robin. The teams in Group A are Dumanjug, Ronda, Alcantara, and Moalboal, while the teams in Group B are Badian, Alegria, Malabuyoc and Ginatilan.
To ensure that each game is competitive, the top teams in each group will advance to the semifinals, while the Nos. 2 and 3 will face off in the crossover quarterfinals. The competition will also use the home-and-away format, with the top-ranked teams hosting the playoffs.
“Let us all work together to make the first edition of the tournament successful,” said Atty. Abing, who represented Congresswoman Calderon during the meeting.
Aside from the basketball U21 tournament, the other events lined up for the Calderon Cup are the men’s and women’s volleyball, Mobile Legends, billiards, tennis, table tennis, and chess competitions.
Congresswoman Patsy is also looking at staging coaching and players clinics for basketball and futsal this summer to give the youth in the seventh district a chance to pick up a sport.