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Are you
or aren’t you happy with the performance of the
Philippine team in the 24th SEAG?
I guess
most people aren’t, considering that at the moment we
are ensconced in fifth place behind
Malaysia,
Singapore, Vietnam and host country Thailand, which is
at the very top.
Oh
mighty RP, overall champ of the 2005 Manila Games, dost
thou stoop so low? We ask, just a tad surprised. Many
half expected this outcome anyway. And ah, there’s the
rub.
Bandera
columnist and prolific sports journalist Barry Pascua
thinks that’s one reason why the performance was not on
a par.
“Maybe
we conceded the overall championship to Thailand even as
early as after we ruled the SEAG in 2005,” Barry said.
“We believed we could not beat the Thais in their own
turf. We just aimed for second and underestimated the
rest of the countries who were shooting for first, no
matter what the odds.”
Barry’s
a bit miffed as a result. Aiming for second isn’t the
way to win, he insists. Didn’t our sports officials read
The Secret?
Why do
you think are we not even second, as we hoped to be? We
asked some more sports-concerned personalities that we
knew.
“The
main reason why it seems Team RP isn’t doing well is
because of the Thai hosting of the SEA Games,” says
trimedia sports personality Anthony Suntay. “Numerous
events [where the
Philippines
usually harvests medals] were scrapped. Our swimmers are
doing great though; and so with a lot of other athletes.
But compared to ’05, a lot of events where we won aren’t
being played,” Suntay reasoned. He was referring to
wushu (where we got 11 medals in ’05) and rowing (where
we got six), for example.
A
national athlete’s parent who requested anonymity looked
deeper into the situation. “I have three possible
reasons why we’re not doing well at all,” he begins.
“First, our sports officials don’t treat the athletes as
if they were their children. Most of them regard
national athletes as if they were employees. Others, who
are worse, regard their star athletes as milking cows.
“If the
athletes do not feel the love coming from their sports
leaders, they don’t feel comfortable in their home base.
If they don’t feel comfortable at home, what more if
they’re competing in another country where the
atmosphere is more hostile.
“Second,
our situation now in
Thailand
reflects the reality of our national sports situation.
Our glory two years ago in Manila was all cosmetics. It
wasn’t real. The reality is that our so-called lesser
sports have no sponsors. Only the favorite sports are
getting all the support. Thus, sports development is not
balanced. If we are going to help our athletes, we must
help all of them, not just some of them. Which brings me
to the third reason.
“Media
has a crucial role to play in our overall sports
development. It’s pathetic that our sports pages feature
more foreign news about the NBA or Tiger Woods’s wife
instead of our local sports and athletes. That’s why
many of the sports where we’re good at are not getting
the necessary support. Sponsors will only come in if
they know they will get exposure for their
contributions. If only sportswriters and sports editors
pay a bit more attention to the less popular sports,
that would be a big incentive for its athletes. Media
must be more mindful of its role in sports development,”
he concludes.
Rommel
Ng, Outback operations manager and collegiate basketball
player (he had the monicker “Aguila” back in school
because of his air travels) supports the parent’s view
about a cohesive, comprehensive program: “I think that
we need a unified effort for all sports, with a
long-term plan to ensure that preparations are made way
in advance and that all sports are well-funded. Right
now we take it one competition at a time instead of
having a continuing program (which will keep our
athletes and coaches constantly focused). [If we have
continuity], it will make the program very attractive to
athletes,” reckons Rommel. And to sponsors too, may I
hasten to add.
Professor Edwin Barber, athletic director of the
University of the Philippines in Diliman (which will
start celebrating its centennial in January 2008), asks
a provocative question meanwhile:
“Alam
niyo, ang tanong diyan e meron ba talagang national
sports program? Kasi from 100 plus gold medals
last SEAG, ngayon ’di pa tayo maka-50. Siguro
indikasyon na ’yun na kulang tayo sa direksyon.”
(You know, the question there should be: do we even have
a national sports program? Because, from 100-plus medals
(won in) the last SEAG, we can’t even make it to 50 now.
Maybe it’s an indication that we really do not have any
direction.)
(Ang
lufeet!)
Francis
Dominic Menor, assistant sports editor of this
multiawarded paper, has a more generous view. “I think
we should also look at the situation this way. The other
countries have improved tremendously. Take Vietnam, for
example. They prepared well for the SEAG and they even
sent their athletes abroad to train. As for us, we only
had our budgets released three months before the event.”
[which means we weren’t really that sharp—comments mine]
Support makes a big difference here.”
“But
let’s wait and see,” Dom invites us to dream anew.
“Maybe we will no longer retain the overall crown, but
we can still salvage ourselves from fifth place. Boxing
and taekwondo—two sports where we are very strong
at—have yet to be played (December 12 for taekwondo and
December 13 for boxing). We’re just a few medals behind
Malaysia
at this point. We can still do a surge and surprise
many.”
Dom’s
right. Griping and moaning won’t help us any. Let’s just
think positive and hope for the best. The real training
starts in the mind, right? Let’s do it. |
