A parade will start at 7:00 am at the Freedom Park to open the event that will be graced by SK Federation president Halila Sudagar and SK chairmen across the city.
"We are ready to hold the summer sportsfest," said Sudagar, who was accompanied by her consultants during the Davao Sportswriters Association Forum Thursday.
The sportsfest is open to 15-18-year olds, excluding current varsity players and will feature competition in six sport disciplines. It includes basketball, volleyball, badminton, chess, taekwondo and athletics.
Apart from basketball and volleyball, the four other events have been previously identified by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) as focus sports of Davao City.
Sudagar, the City Council chairperson of the committee on youth and sports, said the event materialized after a series of consultations and with the help of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
Darren Evangelista, a consultant of the youngest member of the 26-person City Council, said the SK sportsfest budget would be taken from the registration fee, pegged at P7,000 per participating barangay.
Evangelista, the big boss of the Evangelista Aquatics Sports Management, pointed out that the SK sportsfest is an affiliated event under the National Sports Association (NSA).
"We tapped the NSA to run the competition," Evangelista said.
At least 300 track athletes are expected to vie for top honors in the athletics competition, according to Belen Kempis-Taala, regional director of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa).
The athletics competition takes center stage on May 23, 24 and 25 at the Davao City National High School Oval, and will have nine events, including running and throwing.
For James Infiesto, regional chief of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), said he hoped to discover more potential chess players from the barangays.
"This is a grassroots sport development program and we look forward to discover potential players, "said Infiesto. (Rico Biliran / MindaNews)