It takes a village: Bulacan pole vaulter celebrates big Palaro moment with big family 

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Lance Nicolas, the 17-year-old who won a Palaro pole vault gold for Central Luzon, gets a boost from many family members who traveled all the way from Bulacan to Ilocos Norte just to see him compete

ILOCOS NORTE, Philippines – After Bulakenyo pole vaulter Lance Nicolas captured a gold in the 2025 Palarong Pambansa, a large, happy group of people perched on the sidelines soon came to celebrate with him.

Lance only tried his hand at pole vault in February 2023, after his father encouraged him to do so. Not long after, he would find himself enjoying the sport, and eventually joining competitions.

The 17-year-old competed in last year’s Palaro in Cebu, where he settled for bronze. When he finally clinched gold in this year’s edition after clearing a height of 3.80 meters in the secondary boys division in Ilocos Norte, it was nothing but pure joy.

“Masaya po (Really happy),” the young pole vaulter simply said about his feat, which also added to the golden haul of Central Luzon.

This victory, however, was for all the people who had shown up for him ever since he started pole vaulting. Most of them had traveled all the way from Bulacan to see Lance’s fight for gold in the flesh — and the long drive had clearly been worth it.

And when Rappler asked the Taal High School student who he would dedicate his win to, he immediately looked back at the crowd, and began calling for his father, tearing up.

“Very proud at nagbunga ‘yung aming paghihirap sa training. Kasi kung saan-saan namin dinadayo si Lance [with] the support of my family,” said Lamberto Nicolas, Lance’s father and coach.

(We’re very proud that all the hard work we put into training paid off. Because our family goes everywhere to support Lance.)

And when the older Nicolas said “everywhere,” he meant it — with Lance’s parents, siblings, grandmother, aunts, uncles, and even the school principal Neri Dizon showing up to root for the gold medalist. It really does take a village.

Lance’s mother, Lorena, was one of the people who had born witness to his grueling journey to the top. She was in awe of Lance’s discipline and ability to balance both his sport and his studies, excelling not just as an athlete, but as a student before anything else.

“Kami ng papa niya, galing din sa sports dati pa. Nakita naman po kasi namin na seryoso talaga siya kaya sinuportahan namin. Hindi namin siya pinepressure, kung ano lang ang kaya niya. Pero sabi namin siyempre, hindi ka lang dapat nandito. Kailangan ang [goal] mo para sa sarili mo lagi kang aangat,” Lorena shared.

(His father and I also have sports backgrounds. We saw how serious Lance is with pole vault so we support him. We don’t pressure him, we stick with what he can handle. But we say, of course, that you shouldn’t just stay where you are. You should make it a personal goal to always improve.)

It has only been a little over two years since Lance began pole vaulting. With bronze and gold Palaro medals now under his belt, it seems that his dreams of making it to the Asian Athletics Championships and the Olympics are just on the horizon. – Rappler.com