College of Health Sciences – A faculty and a student here presented two studies during the First Philippine Association for Sport and Exercise Sciences (PHASES) National Convention held at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City on March 21-25.

Prof. Baldhomero L. Ranjo II of the Department of Physical Therapy (PT), together with Jerome Kristoffer C. Ortega, BSPT student-intern, presented a poster on  “Agility, endurance, and mental toughness of athletes: Bases in screening MMSU racquetball varsity players”, a student research conducted by Monette Abriol and co-workers in 2008. This study, with Prof. Ranjo as adviser, recommended the need for developing more scientific ways of screening university varsity players.

Ortega further made an oral presentation of his group’s 2010 research on “The effect of aquatic exercise training regimen in improving rotational strength of the hips among selected preadolescent baseball players” which revealed that aquatic exercise is effective in improving the strength of the hip rotator muscles and in increasing the distance of baseball hitting outputs among players.

The three-day conference, which consisted of plenary talks and symposia by local and foreign resource speakers, afforded opportunities for sports scientists, school PE teachers, physical activity enthusiasts, exercise advocates, sports conditioning coaches, sporting activity and competitive level coaches, students, and health-related professionals to gather and exchange information and techniques towards enhancing the science of sports and exercise which would eventually lead to the development of the discipline as a profession in a scientific community and to the advancement of the individual practitioner’s insights.

With this development, Ranjo recommends collaborative undertakings and researches that involve students and professionals alike, especially between the PT Department and the PE Department of CAS as well as other university units of similar interests. This, he said, would be a good ground for inculcating the importance of research/evidence-based sports/physical training.

Ortega, on the other hand, was overwhelmed with the vast knowledge that he gained during the conference. “I am now more well-equipped with new information in dealing with sports-related concepts for physical therapy management,” he said.

PHASES is a non-stock, non-profit, non-government organization that seeks the advancement of the field of sport and exercise science in the Philippines. For two years now, PHASES has been actively participating in educating coaches and PE teachers in the country.