05/09/2026
FACE OF PRISM | Vichie M. Manabit
Sto. Tomas National High School
Santo Tomas, Davao del Norte
Batang Pinoy 2019 & 2025 Gold Medalist
Palarong Pambansa 2023–2026 Finalist
More Than Gold: Vichie’s Story of Persistence, Sacrifice, and a Dream Shared
It started with borrowed leggings, a rainy day, and a little girl curious enough to try.
Vichie was only five years old, turning six, when she saw an announcement for a rhythmic gymnastics tryout at Holy Infant School.
Her parents were hesitant at first.
But Vichie wanted to try.
She borrowed a pair of leggings from her cousin and made her way to the tryout despite the rain.
At the time, she had no idea that such a simple decision would become one of the most important moments of her life.
She was only trying something new.
Years later, rhythmic gymnastics would become something she could hardly imagine her life without.
At first, curiosity kept her interested. Then came the joy of performing, learning new skills, and seeing herself improve little by little.
Eventually, rhythmic gymnastics stopped being simply something Vichie did.
It became something she loved.
And that love would be tested many times.
Three Years for Six Gold Medals
Success did not come easily.
For almost three years, Vichie worked toward a goal at DAVRAA.
She tried.
She failed.
She became frustrated.
She cried.
She questioned herself.
There were moments when she wondered whether the breakthrough she had been working toward would ever come.
Then it finally did.
Vichie won six gold medals at DAVRAA 2026.
To someone looking only at the results, they may simply be six medals.
Vichie sees something different.
She sees almost three years of training.
She sees the failures that came before the victories.
She sees sacrifices, frustration, prayers, tears, and all the moments when she could have stopped—but chose not to.
Those medals did not simply tell Vichie that she had won.
They told her:
You kept going long enough to see what your hard work could become.
Her journey continued to produce remarkable milestones.
At Batang Pinoy 2025, she earned one gold and one bronze medal.
Then at the Palarong Pambansa 2026, Vichie competed while carrying an injury and still placed 7th in the Individual All-Around among 57 delegates.
But perhaps one of the greatest lessons she has learned is that an athlete’s story cannot be measured only by where she places.
The Hardest Opponent
Some of Vichie’s most difficult battles have never happened against another gymnast.
They happened within herself.
Injuries.
Pressure.
Failures.
Self-doubt.
Comparing herself with other athletes.
There were even moments when she worried that one day people might forget everything she had worked so hard to achieve.
But over time, Vichie began to understand something important:
Her worth does not depend on how many medals hang around her neck.
Her journey itself matters.
Every time she returned after disappointment mattered.
Every injury she worked through responsibly.
Every correction she accepted.
Every day she trained despite doubt.
Every moment she chose to continue.
Those things became achievements, too.
Rhythmic gymnastics taught Vichie that she was stronger than she once believed.
It taught her patience.
Discipline.
Sacrifice.
Resilience.
And perhaps most importantly, it taught her that a difficult day does not mean a failed journey.
There will be days when training feels heavy.
Days when a skill refuses to work.
Days when results disappoint.
Days when tears come before confidence does.
But there can always be another day.
“Grabe, kaya na diay nako ni.”
Vichie’s favorite apparatus is clubs.
She loves the challenge of controlling two apparatus at once while still making every movement appear smooth and graceful.
There are skills she once looked at and thought she would never be able to do.
Today, she performs many of them with confidence.
And sometimes, when she realizes that something she once feared has become something she can now execute, she finds herself thinking:
“Grabe, kaya na diay nako ni.”
I can actually do this now.
That realization reaches far beyond gymnastics.
It is proof of how much she has grown—not only as an athlete, but as a person.
A Dream Carried by More Than One Person
Behind Vichie’s achievements are people whose names may never appear beside hers on a results sheet.
Her parents.
Her coaches.
Her teammates.
Her friends.
Her parents, especially, are among the biggest reasons she continues.
Vichie knows what they have sacrificed to make her gymnastics journey possible—from training and competitions to transportation, expenses, equipment, time, and countless other needs along the way.
When exhaustion makes her question whether she can continue, she remembers them.
Because she knows something deeply:
She is not the only one sacrificing for this dream.
Her parents are sacrificing, too.
Her coaches have also spent countless hours teaching her, correcting mistakes, pushing her beyond what she thought she could do, and believing in her during moments when she struggled to believe in herself.
They have witnessed the injuries.
The tears.
The failures.
And the victories.
They stayed through all of them.
So when Vichie dreams about what comes next, she does not dream only for herself.
The Gold She Is Still Chasing
Vichie has already won gold.
But there is one gold medal she continues to dream about.
Palarong Pambansa gold.
It has been one of her biggest goals for years.
She knows how difficult it will be.
She knows there will be stronger competitors, harder routines, pressure, sacrifices, and uncertainty along the way.
But she also knows exactly why she wants it.
More than standing on top of a podium, Vichie dreams of turning toward the people who made the journey possible and being able to say:
“Ma, Pa, Teacher, worth it gyud tanan atong mga kahago.”
Mom, Dad, Teacher—everything we worked and sacrificed for was worth it.
That is the moment she is chasing.
Not simply gold.
But gratitude made visible.
A dream shared with the people who helped carry her toward it.
Becoming a Face of PRISM
For Vichie, becoming a Face of PRISM and PRISM RG Scholar is an honor because it gives her another opportunity to represent the sport she loves.
But it also gives her something equally meaningful:
A chance to share the parts of an athlete’s journey that people do not always see.
She wants younger gymnasts to know that failure happens.
Injuries happen.
Exhaustion happens.
Confidence disappears sometimes.
There may even be moments when you question whether you still belong in the sport.
Vichie has experienced those moments, too.
Her message is simple:
Do not let one bad day convince you that your whole journey is over.
Padayon lang.
Keep working.
Keep believing.
Trust that your time can still come.
Because six gold medals can come after almost three years of trying.
A skill that once frightened you can eventually become something you perform with confidence.
And an athlete who doubts herself today can become stronger tomorrow.
“I keep going because…”
For Vichie, the answer always comes back to the people who have walked beside her.
“I keep going because I have a dream, and that dream is not only for myself. I want to become successful, make my parents proud, and someday give back to them for everything they’ve sacrificed for me.”
Every early morning.
Every long training session.
Every expense.
Every sacrifice.
Every tear.
Vichie wants all of it to mean something.
She wants the people who carried her through this journey to someday see where their sacrifices helped take her.
And perhaps that is why the little girl in borrowed leggings still matters so much to this story.
She did not arrive at that first tryout knowing she would become a Batang Pinoy gold medalist.
She did not know she would become a four-time Palarong Pambansa finalist.
She did not know there would be six DAVRAA gold medals, national competitions, injuries, failures, tears, or victories.
She simply showed up.
In borrowed leggings.
In the rain.
And she tried.
Everything that came afterward was built from that willingness to begin—and the courage to keep going.
Today, Vichie is no longer simply trying rhythmic gymnastics.
She is chasing one of her biggest dreams.
And when the difficult days come, her own journey has already given her the reason to believe:
Your time may not come immediately.
But that does not mean it will never come.
This is Vichie M. Manabit.
This is her journey.
This is her dream.
This is her time to shine.
