I am currently preparing a training program for leaders, and one of the most profound lessons that I am going to share with the group is that “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit” (Arnold H. Glasgow).
That is why I always take with a grain of salt any pronouncement with regard to sports development from responsible officials like the PSC because it has not demonstrated any competence to lead an honest-to-goodness sports development effort in the country.
In fairness to the PSC, neither have the other persons or agencies involved in sports development done any better, except perhaps the SBP which has lifted Philippine basketball to its rightful position of prominence, thanks to the unselfish efforts of its leaders and benefactors.
The latest was a statement issued by a presidentiable and her running mate deploring the state of Philippine sports.
If they are that concerned, why did they not do anything in the legislature where they had the clout to appropriate funds to improve the state of Philippine sports? It was obviously a political stunt, latching on to an issue that is the concern of so many people.
Back to the PSC.
It is obviously bereft of any long-term vision for Philippine sports. By asking for an accounting of PSA accomplishments, the principal measure of achievements being the number of medals the athletes won in international competitions, they have only shown their lack of solidarity.
The PSC knows this already. Why ask for it? Obviously the reason is to lay blame on the PSA, and draw censure away from the PSC.
Hello?
Is this not a case of putting the cart before the horse? So what has the PSA been doing to achieve this measure?
Scout for Phil-Foreigns all over the world, recruit them even if they have mediocre records of performance, sometimes good enough for a medal in the ASEAN.
The question is, does this result in some excitement in the countryside to inspire aspiring athletes to engage themselves in the sacrifice and denial involved to develop the skills needed to excel in their favorite sport?
I still have to experience this miracle. I am even afraid that the effect is the reverse. A good example is basketball.
This is our national sport. Basketball is like my favorite sports brand, it is everywhere. It can be found in every nook and cranny of the 7,100 islands of the archipelago. If we are lucky, we will see basketball courts in the artificial islands put up by China.
How many of our good players have been eased out by the Fil-Foreigners who are preferred by PBA teams because of their heft, discipline and fighting spirit?
What is needed, other than medals is some honest-to-goodness support for the sports champions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Cebu had one of the best grassroots volleyball programs in the country. It got very little notice from the national volleyball association or from the PSC. It took the emergence of a Danika Gendrauli, Grace Soltones, Jade Becaldo, Edward Ybañez, among others, for the national volleyball scene to stand up and wonder where these excellent players originate from.
By that time, the grassroots program was already moribund and dead.
I wonder where the varsity teams will be getting their players once the present players, who represent the last crop of well-trained athletes, graduate. With Metro Manila schools competing for talents, any player who will miraculously emerge from the efforts of the few true lovers of volleyball in Cebu would certainly end up in Metro Manila.
Another gaping hole is the absence of world-class sports venues.
Cebu has proven in the past that it is only second to Metro Manila when it comes to the development of talent, has no such venue, for any sport.
There has been talk of a super venue somewhere in Central Luzon, but it has remained a pipe dream because the value of what the old Rizal Memorial Complex would fetch in the market and the funds to build the venue is too big to be entrusted to the PSC alone.
What the PSC has accomplished are the number of PSA’s that are mired in internal politics. The PSC should be able to rein in these PSA’s because it has the power of the purse. It refuses to do so though, to the frustration of the well-intentioned.
So, the problem of Philippine sports can be summarized as follows: a leadership with no sense of mission or vision; lack of venue; too much politics.
Who can elevate us to nirvana, I know not who.