Interlaken, Switzerland —- Thankfully, the TV channels in this lovely city has English-speaking channels.
On CNBC, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was interviewed and she mentioned about the importance of marketing and getting young girls into sports at an early age.
That reminded me of the grassroots program years ago by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) with the goal of getting girls and women into football.
Professor Erwin Protacio and the late Davao Football Association (DFA) president manong Vic Sai were busy as a bee to keep the program launched in Davao and in the surrounding areas.
I saw young girls get into football but it was the adult women, the mothers who played a key role in the participation to the program.
However, this has not been extensively marketed. A move that the WNBA has made, slowly but surely making progress, although it is still a long way to go to catch up with their counterparts, NBA, which has enjoyed billions of dollars in revenue compared to the WNBA which is still in the millions.
Football in Davao has found a strong partnership with then City Councilor Mabel Sunga Acosta, who for years supported women’s football tournaments. Eventhough Mabel has moved to a bigger role in public service as Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) secretary, this has not been a barrier to keep that women’s football program going.
We just celebrated Mother’s Day, and probably, this should remind us to strengthen women sports.
If young girls are into sports, when they become mothers in the future, they will naturally get their children into sports.
That I see as a natural course of sports life.
They may start with the girl’s football program but in the future, they will let their children to engage in sports, whether that be taekwondo, karate, basketball or even breakdancing, which is now part of the Paris Summer Olympics.
Who is doing the marketing?
This is a call for the Sports Development Division-City Mayor’s Office to step in.
Marketing is crucial.
The Davao media is key partner and we have to seek their help.
Yes, the activities are going on but what we need is the marketing plan to level up women sports.
I do not know what happened but there should be a daily or weekly sports news dispatch from City Hall to the Davao media.
Keep the Davao media informed because it won’t cause you even a centavo to do that.
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For comments, email mpb_sports@yahoo.com.
