SOME 200 student-athletes recently made their way to the Marikina Sports Center. While it looked just like any other sports-charged school event, this one was different—the student athletes were visually impaired.

More than 200 visually impaired children from different regions and schools participated in the sixth Annual VISTA event

Impaired Sports and Training Advocacy (VISTA), organized by Parent Advocates for Visually Impaired Children (PAVIC) and supported by Canon Marketing Philippines, Inc. (CMPI), gathered elementary school students from the National Capital Region (NCR), Region III and Region IV-A for a day of fun sportsmanship.

“Children who are visually impaired usually lack confidence in life due to their condition. But VISTA is the avenue where these talented children can play sports, build friendships and enjoy being a kid. We believe that kids should always have an avenue like this whether they have disabilities or not,” said Weng Fernandez, PAVIC president.

The children spent the whole day participating in track and field, chess and other fun games, swimming and goal ball.

“Seeing the kids laugh, build friendships and even being competitive gave us such joy. It’s important for them to feel and know that they can do the same things other kids do,” said Fernandez.