13 Things You May Not Know About Pilipinas Floorball

What do we know about Floorball? What do we know about Philippine Floorball? And how important is the development of floorball in the Philippines?

Let's try to answer them one by one.

How important is the development of floorball in our country?

Floorball is an addition to the number of sports the people can choose to play as part of their fitness, leisure and socialization. It gives the youth an opportunity to be involved in a sport where they'll run, compete with other players.

Floorball anyone? gives you an idea of what the game is all about and I promise you, I'll share more about the game in the following days to come.

And what has been happening to floorball in the Philippines? Got any idea?

So why floorball? Floorball is a team game played with six players, including one goalkeeper. It is very much like the game of hockey minus the ice floor. A stick is used to shoot a plastic, hollow ball by players to score (in a goal).

Like what I said in my previous post, Floorball Anyone?, floorball is easy to play: a stick, a ball and a mate will get you going.

Let's get know floorball, I mean Pilipinas Floorball, with these little known facts we've found online. So what are the13 things you may not know about Pilipinas Floorball?

1.   The very first introduction (according to the official written history of the Philippine Floorball Association) of floorball in the Philippines can be traced back in early 2000s when a set of floorball equipment was given to the Ateneo de Manila High School in Quezon city.

* I wouldn't discount the fact that floorball sticks,balls and other equipment may have been sent to a relative in the Philippines by a Filipino residing in one of the "floorball countries". The recipient may have been playing them or putting them on display or something like that. Who knows right? 

2. Frederick Bergren, a Scandinavian missionary, is considered as the one responsible for introducing and teaching floorball in Metro Manila among the urban poor children. 

3. Kreative Kids, a homeschool group, was one of Bergren's group to teach with coaches Ryan Elizaga and Toti Andes helping out. They were also responsible for communicating with the International Floorball Federation for requesting for equipment and start-up materials. 

4. Sometime in 2009, floorball games were played regularly at the Greenhills Christian Fellowship. Athletes in Action, an evangelical group, introduced the sport to University of the Philippines-Diliman and University of Makati.   

5. Floorball Philippines, the national organization, was formed in April 2011 and on May 8 of the same year, was officially recognized by IFF as the 53rd member country. 

6. Floorball Philippines was changed to Philippine Floorball Association (PFA) and was as officially registered on April 10, 2015 at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a non-profit sport organization.

7. The Philippine Floorball League (PFL), the seasonal league competition of floorball clubs in the country, was launched in 2012. Floorball's growth is on a steady rise, thanks to the scholastic bases established around the country.

8.  The four founding clubs of PFA are: UP Floorball Club, University of Makati Floorball, University of Asia & the Pacific-Dragons, and the De La Salle Zobel.


9. The Philippines sent out its national teams(Men's and Women's), for the first time, in December 2014, in the 1st Southeast Asian Floorball Championships held in Singapore.

10. Floorball was included for the very first time in the Southeast Asian Games 2015 and the Philippines was represented in the men's tournament of four countries. 

11. Philippine Floorball Association is working on the inclusion of floorball in the Palarong Pambansa. It may come to reality sooner that you think.

12. There are twelve (12) regular PFA Member clubs and six (6) provisional members ranging from corporate, scholastic and community-based clubs.

13. Philippine Floorball Blog is here to spread the news.  

21st night of September

Do you remember?

Beatles in Japan 1966

Here is another gem I found on YouTube, the first complete performance of The Beatles in Tokyo, Japan in 1966. I'm not sure but this was the same year when John, Paul, George and Ringo visited the Philippines. This is the second of a series of video posts on the world's famous band, ever!

The equipment during their time were terrible. The microphones were unstable, speakers were failing but they played with in full throttle.

That's why maybe they're the Fab 4!

Love Songs for Everyone

Here is a Youtube video I found. Something I would love to compile here in my blog. The Beatles Love Songs, full album.

If only we guys lived our lives according to John, Paul George and Ringo's message, we could have prevented a 9/11 attack that changed the course of history in  one day.

A little bit of history:

"Love Songs is a compilation album that comprises love songs recorded by The Beatles between 1962 and 1970. It was released by Capitol Records in the United States on 21 October 1977 (catalogue number SKBL-11711) and on Parlophone in the United Kingdom on 19 November 1977 (PCSP 721.) The compilation peaked at #24 in Billboard's Top LPs & Tape chart during a thirty-one week stay that began on 12 November 1977 The RIAA certified the album with sales of three million units in 2000 even though the compilation was deleted in the late 1980s.The New Zealand release followed the US release with cat. no. and pressing plates, and was released on 2 different EMI labels.

The LP's original packaging included an 11 x 11" booklet, with the songs' lyrics printed, calligraphy-style, on simulated parchment paper. For the first several pressings, the cover itself was simulated leather, and the Beatles' image (a re-working of Richard Avedon's 1967 portrait, featured in Look Magazine) was simulated gold-foil. The LP was also available on yellow vinyl. "

Soundtrip:

Mother's Day 2012

This year's mother's day is celebrated on May 14, Sunday. All over the world, Mother's day is celebrated every second Saturday of May. Every year, the whole world recognizes and celebrates the important role mothers have.

If you want a historical background of the beginnings of Mother's day celebration, you may want to Google the Anna Jarvis and Grafton, West Virginia. Two years after her mother's death in May 1907, Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in her church. The service took the form of an appreciation of her mother and those of all the attendees. In 1909, this idea or practice became a common thing statewide. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson Established Mother's Day as a National Holiday.

Ironically, Anna Jarvis and her sister Ellsinore, campaigned against the what the holiday celebration had become. The person who did so much to promote the remembrance of every mother on Earth died of poverty fighting against the commercialization of the holiday.

Every mother would love a visit or phone call from their children on this day so whatever gift you may have for them, make sure you deliver it personally.

Anna Jarvis said:

A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment.

Read more about it.

Happy Mothers day to all the mothers in the world!

Thanks and happy mothers day to my mom,  Cora Buenaventura and to my mother-in-law, Emy Dandan! Above all, I'd like to say thank you to the Blessed Virgin Mary for her unending maternal love to me and the rest of her followers!

I'd like to share this book about her, The Glories of Mary.

Bataan Death March Revisited

Yeah right! Holiday it was for us part of the working force last Monday April 10, 2012. Do we know the reason why? What were we observing or commemorating? And if we know, what are we doing about it?

The Bataan Death March began on April 10, 1942 when 75,000 allied troops were trapped by the Japanese and forced to surrender. Bataan Death March was a forced march of 85 miles in six days with a one-meal a day policy. The Bataan to Cabanatuan trek is probably the worst war-crime ever committed against a group of Prisoners of War. The Japanese guards committed atrocities against hundreds of  Filipinos and Americans.

Stories of World War 2 from the Lolo and Lola Generation. My Lola would often tell me, when she was alive, the things her mother would do. When the bow-legged Japanese soldiers would pass by their town, Filipinos would hide or runaway from the parade as far as they could. My lola told me she was placed inside a container drum and be covered with dried coconut leaves. She also told me a story about the Death March. Since the food supply was rationed, the prisoners were made to drink their own urine to avoid dehydration.

Truly, the war crimes of these raw-food-eating-race should never be forgotten. They killed Filipinos and they took advantage of our country's natural resources. They were demonic enough to rape the Filipino women.

Eighty years have passed, have we forgiven these people? Have we moved on? Eighty years have passed, have they, as a nation, paid for the crimes they've committed against us?

Filipinos should never forget.

A Book on World Religions

One God, so many teachings. One world, so many religions. For us teachers, we bring with us our beliefs, morals and interests in the teaching-learning experience and because of this, we must be aware. Nowadays when freedom of religion is a right everyone must have a practice, it is inevitable to know other people's views and opinions, most especially their beliefs or non-belief in a Supreme Being.

In our school, we offer our students two choices for their religion classes from first grade to seventh grade. Religious Education and World Religion. Religious Education is the course for the believers of the Roman Catholicism while for those who aren't, they take World Religion.

So for those of you looking for a book on World Religion, here's what I found on Scribd and I'm sharing the book here below:


World Religions

The Secret Life of Adolf Hitler

Tired of the day I just had coupled with boredom brought about by the holidays, I thought of typing in movies to watch inside the search box of YouTube and I discovered a treasure for history fanatics like me:


 

More documentaries to come, thanks to OPENFLIX of YouTube.

Feast Day of the Immaculate Concepcion 2011

Happy Feast Day of the Immaculate Concepcion to all of you!

According to wikipedia:

The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain (in Latin, macula or labes, the second of these two synonymous words being the one used in the formal definition) of original sin. It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology. It is completely distinct from the Virginity of Mary and the virgin birth of Jesus, though it is a popular mistake to confuse them. Mary is sometimes called the Immaculata (the Immaculate One), particularly in artistic contexts.

The proclaimed Roman Catholic dogma states "that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin". Being always free from original sin, she was from the start filled with the sanctifying grace that would normally come with baptism after birth. Although widely-held since at least Late Antiquity, the doctrine was not formally proclaimed until Pope Pius IX did so in 1854 in Ineffabilis Deus.

Better celebrate the Holy Eucharist today!

And here are some of the Immaculate Concepcion prayers from the ChurchYear.Net:

Opening Prayer for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Let us pray,

[That through the prayers

of the sinless Virgin Mary,

God will free us from our sins.]

Father,

You prepared the Virgin Mary

to be the worthy mother of your son.

You let her share beforehand

in the salvation

Christ would bring by his death,

and kept her sinless

from the first moment of her conception.

Help us by her prayers

to live in your presence without sin.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

New Saint Joseph Sunday Missal

Alternate Opening Prayer for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Let us pray,

[on this feast of Mary,

who experienced the perfection

of God's saving power.]

Father,

the image of the Virgin

is found in the Church.

Mary had a faith that your Spirit prepared

and a love that never knew sin,

for you kept her sinless

from the moment of her conception.

Trace in our actions

the lines of her love,

in our hearts her readiness of faith.

Prepare once again a world for your Son

who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit

one God forever and ever.

New Saint Joseph Sunday Missal

A Collect for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

O God

Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin

didst make her a worthy habitation for Thy Son

and didst by his foreseen death

preserve her from all stain of sin,

grant, we beseech Thee,

that through her intercession

we may be cleansed from sin

and come with pure hearts to Thee.

Benedictine Monastic Diurnal

In Praise of Mary Immaculate

You are all fair, O Mary;

the original stain is not in you.

You are the glory of Jerusalem,

the joy of Israel,

the honor of our people,

and the great advocate of sinners.

O Mary, Virgin most prudent,

Mother most merciful, pray for us;

intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.

New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book

Immaculate Conception Morning Prayer

Father,

you prepared the Virgin Mary

to be the worthy mother of your Son.

You let her share beforehand

in the salvation Christ

would bring by his death,

and kept her sinless

from the first moment of her conception.

Help us by her prayers

to live in your presence without sin.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God for ever and ever. Amen

The Liturgy of the Hours

Immaculata Mater Dei

Immaculate Mother of God,

Queen of heaven,

Mother of mercy,

Advocate and Refuge of sinners,

behold, I,

enlightened and inspired

by the graces obtained for me

abundantly from the divine treasury

through thy maternal affection,

resolve this day and always

to place my heart into thy hands

to be consecrated to Jesus.

To thee, therefore, most Blessed Virgin,

in the presence of nine choirs of Angels

and all the Saints, I now give it.

Do thou, in my name, consecrate it to Jesus;

and out of the filial confidence

which I hereby make profession of,

I am certain that now and always

thou wilt do all thou canst to bring it

to pass that my heart may ever wholly belong to Jesus,

and may imitate perfectly the example of the Saints,

and in particular that of Saint Joseph,

thy most pure Spouse. Amen.

St. Vincent Pallotti (1798-1850)

O Pure and Immaculate

O pure and immaculate

and likewise blessed Virgin,

who art the sinless Mother of thy Son,

the mighty Lord of the universe,

thou who art inviolate and altogether holy,

the hope of the hopeless and sinful,

we sing thy praises.

We bless thee, as full of every grace,

thou who didst bear the God-Man:

we bow low before thee;

we invoke thee and implore thine aid.

Rescue us, O holy and inviolate Virgin,

from every necessity that presses upon us

and from all the temptations of the devil.

Be our intercessor and advocate

at the hour of death and judgment;

deliver us from the fire

that is not extinguished

and from the outer darkness;

make us worthy of the glory of thy Son,

O dearest and most clement Virgin Mother.

Thou indeed art our only hope most sure

and sacred in God's sight,

to Whom be honor and glory and majesty and dominion

for ever and ever world without end. Amen.

Ephrem the Syrian (306-373)

Invocation in Honor of Mary Immaculate

Mary, conceived without sin,

pray for us who have recourse to you

Immaculate Mary

Immaculate Mary,

your praises we sing.

You reign now in Heaven

with Jesus our King.

Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria!

In Heaven the blessed

your glory proclaim;

On earth we your children

invoke your sweet name.

Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria!

We pray for our Mother,

the Church upon earth,

And bless, Holy Mary,

the land of our birth.

Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria!

We pray you, O Mother,

may God's will be done

We pray for His glory,

may his Kingdom come.

Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria!

Lourdes Hymn

148th Birthday of Andres Bonifacio

Today is the 148th birthday of Filipino nationalist and revolutionary Andres Bonifacio. Gat Andres Bonifacio's natal day is a national holiday in the Philippines and because of this, we all are in a rest mode. As a student, much of the writings we read about him was he came from a poor family and with the death of his parents, he had to take the on the lead role to provide for his siblings. He was portrayed to be of that all-brawn and no- brains, impulsive revolutionary who was from Tondo, Manila.

But during my college days, I was glad to have enrolled in Philippine History class where my professor (I forgot his name) would give us a lecture ala-dummies guide book. He would share to us the kept-hidden truths of Philippine history which the Americans maneuvered towards the reverence to the elite, intellectual status of the "other hero".

Thank God our country had him during the revolution. Intellectual and financial superiority is often the root cause of social discrimination. Andres Bonifacio suffered the same tribulations against the rich elite who spoke the colonial language.

If you will ask me, I'd like to have Andres Bonifacio as the our national hero.

Hastings 1895 Chess Tournament

Masters at Hastings 1895

According to World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, The Hastings 1895 Chess Tournament was the most important tournament of the 19TH century.

All the strongest chess players of the generation participated and this was the "super-tournament" of the time. The tournament was a round-robin tournament which took place in Hastings, England from August 5 to September 2, 1895.

The winner of the tournament was then unknown American Harry Nelson Pillsbury with 16.5 points out of possible 21. He won over the likes of world champion Emmanuel Lasker and Mikhail Chigorin. What made this tournament even better was that the organizers and players produced a Book of the Tournament in which the players commented (annotated is the chess term) on their games, a highly valuable instructional tool for any student of the game.

Here is a copy of that book:

Hastings Chess Tournament 1895
    

Manuel L. Quezon III: Escaping the Comfort Bubble

Well you know who mlq3 is and you simply adore his works, ideas and everything the man has done for our beloved homeland, the Philippines. Its a shame though that his YouTube video I found has a handful of views. in a time when senseless and junk videos online gain a million viewers in less than a month, educational and helpful videos are left out.

So let me take the chance to share this wonderful, insight-provoking and bubble bursting talk by Manuel L. Quezon III. To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Beacon School, a bimonthly series of Beacon Talks is presented for parents and teachers.

Escaping the Comfort Bubble in 3 parts:







Here's another one, Beacon Talks: Perfect Storms Ahead by Dean Tony La Vina.

RP History and our Young Electoral Democracy

I had the chance to chat with Voltaire Formilleza this morning about the coming election, politics, democracy, his life as a student of  the College of Law of San Beda, his works and his classmates and about Rene Saguisag as his professor.

Regarding Rene Saguisag, Voltaire would tell me that he insipres the class with his life stories. I learned through Voltaire, that the present location of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas used to a baseball field and that during Saguisag's younger days, the craze was baseball and not basketball. Imagine the baseball players after the game heading to the beach.

The place where Robinson's Galleria stands used to be Ateneo de Manila  and  I was told now that in Robinson's Ermita Padre Faura wing entrance now stands a historical marker which tells the passers-by there used to stand Ateneo de Manila building.

So much for the historical trivias. Let me share Voltaire's required speech in his Legal Philosophy Class:

From Plato to Jovito Salonga: Adding Potency to a Young Electoral Democracy

By: Luis Voltaire D. Formilleza

"I am very fortunate to have been given this opportunity to share my views about the importance of Legal Philosophy and its relevance to a young electoral democracy like the Philippines. Legal Philosophy is a very broad and rich course. To us law students the subject is an additional memory exercise where the professor asks us to recite the highlights of different articles on various topics which includes inter alia: Democracy, the State, justice, law, peace, crimes and punishment. However, a deeper reflection on these topics will reveal wisdom immortalized in the annals of our history; classical not because they are archaic but rather they are simply timeless. Their value and importance is real and relevant in our lives today. Hence given this opportunity I would like to explore the condition of our democracy and some factors that made it become what it is in status quo; the many stakeholders that it affects, and the role of the primordial lessons of Legal Philosophy and how these seeds of acumen can be utilized to strengthen our democracy.


Electoral Democracy connotes the foundation of the popular will of the majority by virtue of which government exercises its authority over the governed. It safeguards the dignity of the individual and his concomitant unalienable rights from the intrusive arms of the government which at times hides under the cloak of the same political will that gave it powers. Post- colonial and post-dictatorial regimes during the turn of the 21st century would show us how this happens. This trend is likewise apparent in the Philippines. The polarization of the citizens to the haves and the have not’s paved the way for political power to be superimposed to the upper strata of the caste. Although the presumption is that citizens are all equal in opportunity for political participation, since one’s right to office is tantamount to one’s right to vote, the conditions of young emerging democracies demand more than the basic statutory electoral qualifications. More often than not, the race to the polls are defined by the capacity of a person to tap his constituency no matter how doubtful his intentions and credentials are, the capability to mobilize political and campaign machineries and the skill to utilize the “patronage bandwagon” to amass supporters that can translate to votes. These undeniable pragmatic pre-conditions to office made it more difficult if not impossible for the plebian yet able candidate to penetrate the political arena.


The effects of this trend are even worse and are too numerous to mention. On the level of the societal behavior an immediate effect is the growing apathy to civic participation and distrust in the political system. Politics is rather seen as an agenda for the elite. And while the common peoples try hard to tolerate if not make politics irrelevant to their lives, the one’s in power breeds a social illness of corruption and nonsensical politicking that feeds bucks on their purses. More frustrating is the fact that those who choose to fight against the rotten system stand to perish. The story of democracy becomes nothing more than a series of fairy tales and during the elections the carnival begins. Some tales end in tragedies like what we witnessed in Maguindanao while others end up as comedies.


An Asian statesman once remarked that democracy is not working in the Philippines. Is this really true given the state of things in our country? My response is a resounding no. I beg to disagree. No political or economic system can be claimed as perfect. We can only say that systems work for us for a period of time until it evolves to become an antithesis to what it used to be. Ours is a young democracy and it is constantly being molded to be one that we can call our own. This is the kind of struggle that we have been perpetually fighting for as a nation, a struggle to a claim to freedom, a claim to an identity. Legal Philosophy is more than a memory exercise or a course requirement. It leaves lessons and guiding principles to the many people who have a stake in preserving and forwarding our democracy. As philosopher kings the subject is challenging us to dare the odds and put the resounding echoes of our learned forefathers into action. For now as part of that challenge our goal is to be inspired to cultivate ourselves and do everything that we can to become sentinels of the rule of law that is aimed at preserving the vision of an electoral democracy that we all dream for ourselves and our children. So that tomorrow we may become the next Plato or Jovito Salonga who can inspire others to sustain what we have started."

Old Glory of Manila

I remember very well how my dad would boast of his childhood days to me. His reminiscing of the good old days when he would play with his friends and "trolley" along the San Miguel Avenue fronting the Malacanang Palace. Him growing up in San Miguel and going to Pio Del Pilar Academy in Sta. Mesa and V. Mapa High School in Mendiola street.

His sweet recall of his childhood to teenage life story was truly infectious that I grew up dreaming that one day I would get to live and enjoy the scenes he enjoyed while growing. Sadly, my generation can only hope and dream of such lifestyle.

Thankfully, a colleague of mine who shares the same affection of the "Old Manila" showed me this video below. Manila before the WWII catastrophe!



If you can't get enough, visit Old Manila Nostalgia and Old Manila Walks.

Jewish Films

Films with a Jewish touch, feel and thoughts are films I need to see before I die. Thanks to the books I've read a couple of moons ago: The Odessa File, The Brutal Holocaust and The Diary of Anne Frank.

Now comes the blog I stumbled upon by Rabbi von Sydow and his post in September titled "100 Jewish Films to Watch Before" maybe dying?

Interesting. Now I have to blog about this so I can keep a permanent record of the Rabbi's link and list. Someday, somehow.

Mind At War

I have digested as much as I can about World War II atrocities indirectly in the past three weeks. Remember The Brutal Holocaust post I made last month? So far I browsed-read-skipped the book according to what my catches my 20/20 visual apparatus. I have read the chapters about Forced Labour, Rape of Manila and Comfort Women. If Armando Ang's numbers are right, then we can say that Manila was Warsaw of Asia. No thanks to the Allied Forces and to the Japs.

Amidst my searching and seeking for knowledge of history, my friend lend me a book by Frederick Forsyth called The Odessa File and was hooked to it instantly. The story had someth to do with World War II Atrocities by the German Nazi's, SS Men hunted by Jewish Militia and a reporter's quest for justice for his father's murder. I needed only a week to read the book then came another help, another friend gave me a film copy of The Odessa File which he downloaded at Torrentz. 

In the film adaptation of the novel, Jon Voight played the main character in Frank Miller. I was so interested to know who played the role of Sigi, the fiance' of Miller and I found out it was Mary Tamm. Of course I watched the film expecting to see the bed scenes Frederick Forsyth masterfully told us in the novel but damn it wasn't there.

Interestingly, these two artistic outputs made me learn so much about World War II which I think I can never learn in the four corners of a classroom. Occuring on the oposite hemispheres of the globe, the people depicted in the film and the victims stories in the book told me one thing: World Wars don't solve anything.

And last night I saw Lourd de Vera's segment in The Evening News of TV 5 which included World War II tidbits and trivias. This propelled me to vheck out the YouTube videos about The Battle of Manila:



I guess my World War II research will continue until the end of March this year and hopefully I'll have a better vision and understanding of what life was like then.

P.S.

I hope the next President of the Philippines will have the most respect of Philippine History.

The Brutal Holocaust

I was helping out a colleague input data into one of the websites for her application to go somewhere else, I glimpsed at the rows of books around us and took notice of the Zia Quizon Collection and found the book The Brutal Holocaust, Japan's World War II Atrocities and their Aftermath by Armando A. Ang.

Currently I am well on my way to finishing the appetizer pages namely preface, foreword and introduction.  It is interesting to note that the introduction was given by Dr. Ricardo T. Jose of the Department of History, University of the Philippines.

From what I have read so far, this would be "full" and will definitely be a good springboard for me to work on my long-time dream of doing a self-researched project on the World War II relating to the Philippines.

For those who doesn't know the  author, here is a page  about his works, Armando A. Ang and his books. 



I shall blog on this topic whenever I find something that would move to do so.  So for now, let me go back to he book and read more on the topic Japanese War Crimes.