Actor-turned-politician Richard Gomez is one proud Arellano U alumnus!
Gomez shared on 'Rise Up Stronger: The Road to NCAA Season 96’ that he graduated high school from the NCAA school and was grateful as it was with the Arellano University that he discovered his love for sports.
During his days in Arellano, he became part of the high school's men’s volleyball team but later on, he unearthed his passion for fencing--- a vocation that brought him a host of personal accolades including a gold medal in the Asian Master Fencing Championship in 2015.
“I graduated from Arellano during my high school days and for me, high school is the fun part growing up. Up to now, I still communicate with my classmates. I was also an athlete for our school, I was a varsity volleyball player during my time in Arellano,” he shared on Wednesday.
“The time I tried fencing, it was like a second nature to me to play the sport so I pursued it and I joined a lot of local tournaments which qualified me to become part of the national team. I was given the chance to participate in at least five Southeast Asian Games.”
Gomez’s passion for sports is still ingrained on him up to this day.
In fact, aside from passing it on to his one and only daughter, Juliana, the 55-year-old Ormoc City mayor is also an advocate of teaching children to get into sports as, according to him, it would teach them values that are also applicable in life in general.
“ I understand the importance of sports to the kids,” he said.
“It teaches them discipline and they become goal-oriented. They learn how to work in a team and they learn to fight to win. At a very young age, I already introduced Juliana to sports like football, baseball and then when I retired from fencing, I played volleyball and eventually, she also got interested in it.”
As a family man, Gomez said he continues trying to balance his work and personal life.
“Me and Lucy (Torres) are very low-key. If there’s a time to celebrate something then we celebrate it but most of the time there are a lot of instances, like her birthday, that we do not celebrate anymore,” he said.
“We don’t want to disturb other people.”
Watch GMA Synergy's 'Rise Up Stronger: The Road to NCAA Season 96' every weekday (2:45 p.m.), Saturdays (4:30 p.m.), and Sundays (5:05 p.m.) on GTV.
