PSC Chairman Richard Bachmann (middlle in grey shirt) says he and fellow PSC commissioners are going around the country to observe and understand grassroots training programs so that he can implement his plan to have a united grassroots program under the PSC. | Glendale Rosal
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Richard Bachmann is on an important mission to establish a united sports grassroots program nationwide.
He is now in Cebu along with PSC commissioners in Edward Hayco, Bong Coo, and Walter Francis Torres to start their mission in establishing this program under the PSC.
They visited one of Cebu City Sports Commission’s (CCSC) and Cebu City Local Schools Board’s grassroots training center at the Labangon Elementary School where over a dozen sports are catered to train youngsters for free.
During his visit Bachmann was toured throughout the school which houses numerous sports facilities including the newly-opened PSC regional training center for weightlifting which they formally cut the ribbon on Thursday.
They also visited Cebu City Sports Center, which is another grassroots training hub for Cebu City.
In an interview with CDN Digital, Bachmann revealed his plans to establish a united sports grassroots program under his leadership in the PSC.
“Kumbaga (It’s like), we have so many grassroots programs, we have PSC’s, NSA’s and those coming from the government, from the politicians. They also have their own grassroots (programs). My job is to go around the country to understand fully the grassroots program. Now I’m in Cebu, tomorrow I’ll be in Zamboanga,” said Bachmann who was appointed by President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr. last December as the new PSC chairman succeeding Noli Eala.
Under a united grassroots program, Bachmann said he believed that it would be easier to discover and identify talented athletes which they could train as the future national team athletes.
At the same time, they want to introduce not just basketball but over 72 other sports to the youth.
Grassroots satellite offices
Bachmann said that he was planning to establish satellite offices around the country including Cebu, Davao, Baguio, Ilocos, Rizal, and the Philsports Arena.
Each satellite office will have its own point persons that will supervise the program.
“That is how I can unite everyone to have a one strong grassroots program. We want to have satellite offices around the country. With all those satellite offices will have point persons to overlook the grassroots program,” he said.
“What I want to do basically is to search for those athletes. I do agree to scout for Fil-foreign athletes, but we have to look for Filipino talents, and I believe a strong and united grassroots program will help us discover these talented athletes,” Bachmann said.
Cebu key province
Bachmann was impressed by how organized and wide Cebu City’s grassroots program was, which he saw at the Labangon Elementary School.
He lauded Hayco, who initiated the program years back when the latter was still the CCSC Chairman.
Bachmann said that there were plenty of talents here in Cebu, not just in basketball, so he wanted the grassroots program of the CCSC and the Local Schools Board to be a sustainable program.
He also wanted the other satellite locations that the PSC would be putting up in the future to be sustainable.
“There’s so much talent here. This will be a key province for grassroots. Commissioner Hayco did a good job here. The key here is to sustain everything. Not only grassroots, training, dapat may (there should be) competition din, yung mga bata (also for the kids), after a while tatamad na yan (they will get lazy), how can you test your skills without competition? So, that’s how we will figure out with all the PSC commissioners,” Bachmann said.
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