VALENZUELA City is trying to make a case as the country’s next sporting hub with the construction of a new multi-sports arena. The 1.2 hectare training facility, a project of Deputy Speaker Wes Gatchalian, houses a two-court basketball floor, volleyball court, badminton area, chess, table tennis, and billiards hall, main hall, dugouts, among others, and will be called Wellness Entertainment Sports (WES) Arena located in Barangay Punturin.
The arena will be inaugurated on August 11, coinciding with the birthday of Gatchalian, who represents the first district of Valenzuela City. It will initially be used as a vaccination site before finally being utilized into a full-time sports arena once the pandemic is over. “It’s the first and largest sports arena in Valenzuela City,” Gatchalian proudly beamed during his appearance in the webcast edition of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday.
“We’re just maximizing the area in preparation for Valenzuela hosting major national tournaments in the future. This is our vision, to compete in national tournaments and makilala sa sports city namin, which is always synonymous to factory and industrial city.” PBA great and Valenzuela City sports director Gerry Esplana was with the solon in the public sports program presented by San Miguel Corporation (SMC), MILO Philippines, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), and added that has been a long-time dream of him as a true sportsman for the city have its own huge playing arena.
“The city is progressive if there’s a sports facility and a good sports program. And since Valenzuela is the gateway to the North, it will be good that we hold a sports event in our city to show how progressive we are,” said Esplana, the 1990 Rookie of the Year. The former Valenzuela City councilor added the two-story building could serve as a one-stop shop for the entire family as even housewives could avail of the facility which also offers a place where to hold Zumba sessions.
“They really like to have a track oval. But they need a larger hectares of land — that’s still a dream for Congressman Wes,” added Esplana in the session powered by Smart and Upstream Media as the official webcast partner. Gatchalian said the arena could also hold various sports clinics especially in the combat sports of taekwondo and judo, where Valenzuela is known to produce talents in the grassroots level.
Apart from WES Arena, Gatchalian added there are already 110 covered courts in 24 barangays under his district. “That’s how important iyong sports program na ginagawa namin thru the grassroots level,” he said.