Mandaue hosts sports leadership summit

Sports

TOPNOTCH local and foreign sports personalities are in Mandaue City for the 2025 Online Sport Leadership Program (OSLP) Summit.

The three-day event will be held at the Sacred Heart School–Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) campus.

Olympian Mary Joy Tabal-Jimenez, head of the Mandaue City Athletics and Sports Development Office, led the official start of the summit by hosting a welcome dinner for OSLP founders, officials, keynote speakers, and participants on Thursday, June 19, at Bai Hotel in Mandaue.

“Thank you for building this incredible movement that continues to empower and unite sports leaders across the country,” said Tabal-Jimenez.

“Your presence is a true honor. Your stories of discipline, courage, and excellence continue to inspire generations of Filipino athletes. You remind us all that the Olympic dream is possible—and it starts in communities like ours,” she added.

Helping Tabal-Jimenez in mounting the event is SHS-AdC athletic director John Ralph Christopher Inot.

OSLP co-founders and Olympians Akiko Thomson-Guevarra and Noli Ayo joined by keynote speakers Akendo Banerjee and A.J. Koikoi for the opening night.

Thomson-Guevarra pointed out that the summit will tackle not just about leadership but also building a stronger and united community through sports.

“This three-day summit focuses on storytelling and collaboration, emphasizing the importance of community-building. We hope to energize everyone involved and strengthen the already growing network of sports leaders. Our group may be small, but we aim to be cohesive and impactful,” she said.

Koikoi, an American multisport athlete based in Japan and a representative of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), said the role of sports in conflict resolution and social integration will be discussed in the summit.

“Sports can bridge societies. It’s something the United Nations has been working on for years—connecting people, closing gaps. That’s the power of sports and the importance of this summit,” Koikoi shared.

Banerjee, a former champion track athlete, representing the Mount Royal University in Canada, engage with local leaders is something that he looks forwars in the summit.

“We want to empower the Philippine sports community, and this summit is a great space to exchange ideas while also learning from local stories and experiences,” he said.(CCM)