A Profile of the Philippine Memory Team

Miss Antonella Berthe won 3 Gold, 2 Silver and the Asean Master Title in the recently concluded ASEAN Age Group International Chess Championships in Kuantan Malaysia last November 26-December 4, 2017. She will be doing the demonstration of blindfold chess and Calendrical computation. Give her any dates ranging from year 1582-9999 and she will accurately tell the exact day.

MANILA, Philippines – There is no doubt that Filipinos are among the world’s best and brightest. Pinoys continue to shine in the international stage in different areas, including Memory Sports, a sport that requires agility and strength in information retention skills of competitors. Each player is given a series of pictures, words, cards, or numbers which they need to memorize and perfectly recall in a limited amount of time.

Philippine Memory Team has already brought home numerous achievements including winning 10 out of 10 Gold medals in the 2012 Thailand Memory Championships and for bagging 3 Gold, 5 Silver, and 3 Bronze medals at the WMC 2013 held in London. This trip was fervently supported by Sir Hermie Esguerra. This just proves that Filipinos are at par with the giants in Memory Sports such as: America, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy, India, China and Japan.

The Masterminds

The sport was introduced to the country by Robert Racasa. Through his gift of teaching and mentoring, many of his students have gone on to become academic achievers and elite memory athletes. Another is Grand Master Mark Anthony Castaneda, the Philippines’ very first Filipino Grand Master of Memory (GMM).

Grand Master Erwin Balines, the second Filipino to get a GMM title.

Philippine Memory Team’s youngest player, Jamyla Lambunao smashed three world records at the WMC 2013. Another one is Axelyancy Cowan Tabernilla, a binary codes specialist.

No matter how great the intellectual capability of a person is, it will always be limited by the extent of information that can be stored and recalled in a person’s mind. That’s when memory training comes in. In any field of endeavor, may it be in sports, academics, vocation, or in any profession, a trained memory can be a priceless asset

Besides bringing honor to the country, the Philippine Memory Team also aims to empower the youth and promote the importance of memory in learning and information retention through Memory Sports. These days we rely on our phone, tablets and computers to memorize thing, as a result we are not exercising our most important mental muscle — our brains.”

The team envisions the Philippines with a new generation who does not just merely rely on electronic gadgets, but enhances the self-esteem and boost the confidence level of Filipinos through having a sharp memory, and to turbo-charge the brain to achieve peak mental performance.

The one who will give demonstration today is Antonella Berthe Racasa:

National Age group chess champion at the age of 9.

Triple Gold medallists in the recently concluded ASEAN International Chess Championships

ASEAN Master title

Can do blindfold chess exhibition

Walking human calendar (able to calculate the specific day of the week of the entire Gregorian Calendar (1582-9999)