Watching whatever was shown of the Asian Games on local TV, and the Filipino sports fans less than ecstatic about the lone gold medal in BMX Racing, I was able to concoct a surefire formula that would raise our gold medal haul to two, or even three.
There is no point aiming for dethroning China or topping our ASEAN neighbors.
It is almost as impossible as landing a Filipino astronaut on the Moon, if we continue to do the same things and retain the present sports officials who refuse to give up their positions, after a debacle like the Asian Games.
If this happened in some other country, all the officials of the PSC and the NSA’s would probably have committed mass hara kiri already. From the way it looks, and judging from the already jaded temperament of the Filipinos, a gold medal or two would be enough for us.
What is the formula?
Let us encourage all the private schools in the country to spend their athletic fees to scout, train and nurture their talented students to become world class athletes.
Let the present system go on their merry ways, and hopefully an Onyok Velasco, a Lydia de Vega would emerge from the system. That would be a bonus.
The private schools however, should concentrate on expensive sports like fencing, golf, taekwondo, swimming, gymnastics, tennis and the like.
The really rich could take up equestrian, rowing, shooting and archery. The family can take care of the basic training and the PSC and the NSA’s can use their budgets in sending the athletes to advance foreign training and competitions. No sports money should be spent for a sports official who does not have any contribution to the national effort.
I would think that this kind of program would succeed for several reasons.
One, is that children who come from households where nourishing food is not a problem would have the strength and stamina to undergo rigorous training.
Second, is that these children who are raised with one, two or even more over-filled ice boxes are struggling with teen obesity, and they and their parents would just be too happy to see the fat go.
Third, these rich kids have to be weaned away from their smart phones, tablets and laptops so that they would be able to experience other worlds aside from cyber space.
The problem is how to motivate these children and their parents to participate in this kind of program.
I also have no answer to this question, but I can cite instances where it is being done.
This is the reason why Ateneo de Cebu has been winning championships. La Salle and the University of San Carlos do the same.
The parents are encouraged to organize themselves and become booster fans to their children. They start at a very early age, and follow the progress of their children until they finish their stint in the school. Some go even as far as graduation from college.
Perhaps, sociologists and psychiatrists could come up with a suggestion how to create a culture among students where fame in the campus would also come from the ability of a person in a sport, just like the letter system that they have in American campuses.
If a sports program could be as purposeful as this, I will bet that the Philippines would have an additional gold medal or two in the 2022 Asian Games and in the 2028 Olympics.
The other sports can continue what they are doing, except spending for Fil-Foreigners who are mediocre athletes and crowd out local homegrown athletes from their rightful places in the national team.
Who knows, gold can be struck without our sports officials knowing it.
Basketball, billiards and boxing has an assured future, as long as the likes of Manny Pangilinan will continue their support. It would be a big boost if somebody can convince my friend Tony Aldeguer, ALA to you, to go back to amateur boxing.
I was watching NU win the 2014 Men’s UAAP Championship and saw the SM scion, Hans Sy, who was prominently around to inspire his team.
Is it not time for the Sy fortune to chip in a little more to the national sports effort, through an expanded sports program at the National University?
We can become a sports power if we want to. We are a nation of millions, yet we are routinely defeated even by our ASEAN neighbors like Hong Kong and Singapore.
Do our sports officials have any pride left in them?
I just recently knew that a past President of the sports association of a game that I play has been elevated to a higher position in the Philippine Sports Commission, despite his less than zero achievement in that NSA.
How and why do these culprits responsible for shaming our country in international competitions survive?
If we continue what we do with Philippine Sports, there will be less silvers and bronzes in our medal tally the next time around, and heaven forbid, we could end up behind East Timor in future games.
A dire scenario, but unfortunately, we are trying very hard for it to happen. So take away the task of sports development from the public schools. It has not worked. Give it back to the private schools, with the help of parents and alumni.
If not in 2018, at the latest in the 2022 Asian Games, we would have added a gold medal or two to our tally.