YMCA gears up for World Challenge 2012

We created basketball.

October 13, 2012 will mark the day when Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Davao chapter, along with other local chapters across the globe, will live up to this theme in an attempt to set a Guinness Book of World Record for the most people who shot basketballs in one day.

YMCA’s World Challenge 2012 is geared not only at setting the world record but about maximizing collective potential particularly of the organization’s members from around the globe. It is the association’s  goal as well to raise awareness and visibility of YMCA around the globe.

More than just a song by the Village People, a known music icon of the 70’s, YMCA is a worldwide organization of millions of members from 125 national federations. It is the organization’s mission to put Christian principles into practice through physical, mental and spiritual wellness.

YMCA set sail to the Philippine shores by way of the American invasion in the early 1900s. Years later, YMCA slowly grew into a national movement of 24 active local chapters and thousands of members ranging from retired-but-never-tired civil servants down to the younger generations of students coming from different schools.

It was in this organization where Dr. James Naismith, a PE instructor at the International YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) in Massachusetts, invented basketball. History was, thus, created.

And this history will be re-stamped and recreated as YMCA embarks on a worldwide effort of making the people know about the Movement.

On October 13, 2012,  YMCA members around the world will simultaneously hold events, with basketball event as the highlight. YMCA Davao Chapter will hold an event dubbed as Dula 2012, a Larong Lahi-themed activity.

Davao YMCA is still currently on its preparation phase and is set to release details in the coming weeks. YMCA of Davao President Atty. Antonio B. Partoza, backed up by his co-Directors, Gen. Sec. Sylvia L. Piedad and a core group of youth volunteers, eyes to make a mark in Davao City and to revive the once-glorious days of the local association. (pr)