Sports, in amateur terms, used to be just about winning medals. For athletes, the medal is worth everything.
Things have changed.
Amateur athletes today receive incentives in cash or property for their winning performance.
A case in point is the incentives program for Davao City athletes which has just been amped by the city government. Athletes who bring pride and honor to Davao City by winning medals in competitions will be rewarded with higher cash incentives. The new incentives program was pushed by Vice Mayor Baste Duterte who is himself a sportsman.
Indeed, it takes one to know one.
Under VM Baste’s new incentives program, every athlete who wins a gold medal award in international competitions will receive P30,000 while the silver medalist receives P20,000 and bronze medalists get P10,000. For the winners in national sporting events, the gold medalists will receive P12,000, silver medalists P10,000 and bronze medalists P8,000. For local events, athletes who win the gold will get P10,000; P8,000 for silver medalists; and P5,000 for bronze medalists.
While the system of giving rewards for sporting achievements is a good motivation for athletes, it also opens up the spectre of do-everything-for-money mindset. Hence, the possibilities of cheating and doping cannot be ruled out.
The lure of money also results to internal squabbles in sports associations of a similar sports discipline. In our Olympic setup, this is the NSA-Olympic Committee representation issue. Sports associations have come at odds in some sports as a result of competing for the right or representation in a particular sport.
It is not wrong to give cash incentives. However, the city can also come up with innovations in the incentives scheme like sports equipment giving scholarships, school supplies and equipment other than just giving money.
Exposing very young athletes to the lure of money may end up to be promoting a wicked sporting culture.
