Streamline & re-organize Philippine sports
by rick olivares
When Peping Cojuangco opened his
re-election bid for the Philippine Olympic Committee’s top spot, he promised
that the country will win two medals in the next Summer Games.
I honestly think and with all due
respect to the incumbent POC president that is what is wrong with Philippine
sports – an obsession with something that is extremely difficult to achieve and
that the Olympics is the end all of sports. I am not suggesting that the
Olympics is small fry and that we ditch any Olympic aspirations. Keep that.
Sometimes, I feel we are trying
to leapfrog the process. We haven’t even conquered our own corner of the world
when we are looking to become world champions or gold medalists. Parang pa-sungkit sungkit lang tayo ng
medalya rito at roon then everyone happy. When we bomb out then raise hell.
That has been a vicious cycle of excuses, mediocrity, and incompetence.
The problem of sports goes far
beyond the POC leadership. It’s an entire culture.
I do know that in decades past,
several sports were chosen to be the focus sports as they are deemed to have
better chances for medal hauls. That’s good. However, everything needs to be
evaluated constantly with other sports being promoted as well.
What is sorely lacking is a
coherent and long-term plan to develop sports excellence in the grassroots
level. As it is, funding for teams and athletes is mostly for the elite level.
As for the grassroots level? Everyone
talks about this. But what about this?
Grassroots programs are left to
the national sports associations, schools, corporate sponsors, and local
government units. However, there is no seamless organizational chart. Everyone
is just trying to do something with no coherent goal. Too often they are at
odds with one another because so many people have their own agendas. And that
is understandable because some people in charge make use of certain programs as
feeder programs for their own school or own benefit. So why help a person or
organization that doesn’t have the most noble of intentions?
Many grassroots programs are just
adopted as official programs of this and that NSA with not much guidance. Even
worse, we have all sorts of characters who think they alone have what it takes
to elevate their sport to the next level. They should be held accountable,
graded for performance, and given only a certain number of years. They should
not perpetuate themselves especially with mediocre performances.
When you have a very good
program, for example, making it to the semi-finals of an international tourney
once doesn’t mean it’s successful. Making it consistently and pushing towards
the next level means it is successful. Providing a steady stream of talent
means a program is successful.
I should point out that not every
NSA is a mess. There are model ones. They should be identified and the best
practices cascaded to others that aren’t organized at all.
Part and parcel of grassroots is
a multi-level system for sports where a club system is promoted. I recall how
in football, youth teams would win international tournaments but as the kids
got older, they began losing because the focus turns to other matters.
Really. How many pro leagues do
we have?
Only in basketball. You cannot
say the same for volleyball and football. The latter two are semi-pro. A club
system must be promoted with corporate sponsors given incentives to help out.
It should also be pointed out
that there is this unhealthy obsession with basketball. Sure it’s the national
sport but it shouldn’t follow that there cannot be anything else. Why are we
expecting medal hauls from other sports when the disparity between funding,
attention, and opportunities between basketball and everything else is an ocean
or two of a difference?
There is something definitely
wrong with the current system that cannot be perpetuated. It’s widespread.
Change has to happen wholesale and across the board.
Or else, we’ll be having this
never-ending diatribe of the ills of Philippine sports.
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