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Friday, September 21, 2012

Thoughts on our sports development


By Ma. Isabel Ongpin

Just wondering why a population of 90 million plus Filipinos cannot achieve medal-worthy Olympic performances, or be somewhere near enough to them. So far, so bad.

Our track and field, swimming (so far behind we no longer field a team to compete), weightlifting, martial arts Olympians rendered pathetic performances. The athletes were courageous but they lost in spades.

The truth is that as modernization and progress, better nutrition and new techniques are now part and parcel of world-wide sports programs, higher standards have evolved.

It is no longer a matter of waiting for a naturally gifted person to surface and field as a sports competitor that will perform up to par. In times past, this was how athletes were passively found and chosen. It was like a waiting game that would eventually yield a jewel of a sports talent for recruitment and immediate competition. In this way, we managed to have some highlights in sports in the past. Our basketball teams finishing in the upper tiers, boxers bringing home medals, all of which in the light of today stand almost as aberrations, a lucky turn of events. Our competitors after all followed the same path in choosing and fielding their athletes.

Today it is another story. The natural for whatever sport must be actively looked for and discovered early. He must be nurtured for years and exposed to tough competition throughout before being fielded with a chance to shine.

The above requires a sports program managed by knowledgeable, competent and hard-working officials who are completely even-handed and unselfish. These programs must be clinical in evaluating, choosing and providing training for the promising athlete. A naturally gifted athlete is only the first step. He must be made competitive to current standards by skills training, hard work and inspiration. Athletes perform best when their morale is high. It gives them the edge to overcome the competition.

It has been noted that this is not the case here. How many laments have we heard from our neglected athletes? To inspire them there must be a well-placed sports program for which expertise and funding, integrity and justifiable decisions are indispensable.

Shortcuts like roaming the world to pick up Fil-Ams, Fil-Brits, Fil-Australians, etc. who have trained elsewhere and may have a better track record than our homegrown athletes to represent us, have not produced results and only demoralized our own. There are simply no shortcuts for sports competition.

The people in charge of sports programs must be better, in fact, the best available and given the length of time it takes to carry out long term sports development, must be ready to move on and give a chance to others to come on board. They must not overstay because the law of diminishing returns kicks in. There are always younger and better trained people to take over. Being a former sports figure once or a patron is not essential. Management skills, relevent knowledge of today’s higher standards is better. The world has become larger and more competitive. In this context there is a need for drastic overhauling of our sports program beginning with a change in leadership, a move to inspire, an upgrade of standards to keep up with the rest of the world, especially our neighbors. Going down to grassroots athletes and using patience, competence and honesty to manage them must be undertaken. And if it happens there will be no instant gratification, no miracles. It will take years. Money alone will not be enough. Exhortations and pep talks can only go so far. Expertise, honesty and unrelenting effort must accompany them to achieve results that will come in time, a long time.

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