SPORTS will take a long ride in Pangasinan after the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) national games here.

Dr. Gonzalo T. Duque, national president of the PRISAA and also of the Dagupan-based Lyceum-Northwestern University (LNU), vowed to organize a sports foundation that will manage all the sports facilities already in place.

Mainly in support of the national PRISAA games, the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center (NSRCC) in Lingayen, the Olympic-size Swimming Pool in Dagupan as well as the Dagupan City Astrodome were repaired by local governments and put in ciompetitive shape.

“It would be useless if we will again let all these facilities rot,” said Duque who vowed to head the foundation that will seek to manage all the sport facilities so they can be maintained in top condition always.

He said all these facilities were put up for the Palarong Pambansa in 1995 and after the games, these had been seldom used. The provincial government has occasionally allowed use of the sport venue for its Camp Victory training program for native Pangasinense athletes.

The provincial government owns the NRSCC while the Olympic-size swimming pool and the Dagupan Astrodome are owned by the Dagupan City government.

It is only the Dagupan City Astrodome that is being used often, not only for sports but also for cultural presentations and for social activities.

Duque said he will ask Mayor Benjamin Lim to hand over to the foundation that would be formed the management of the Olympic-size swimming pool where the latter can train swimmers on a year-round basis.

He said the foundation will encourage the three universities and the different colleges in Dagupan City to make swimming as part of their Physical Education subject, for which they can charge nominal fees from students