(My heart jumped with pride as the celebrated Fil-Am NBA cager Jordan Clarkson hoisted the national tri-color as the flagbearer of the Philippine delegation.)
If you ask me, weightlifter Hidylyn Diaz, the silver medalist in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro (brazil) Olympics, is the only Filipino athlete having the strongest chances to bring home a gold medal in the on-going 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
This is because I see in her persona a positive mindset that other athletes do not possess.
What the mind conceives, the body will achieve, right?
In decades preceding the 2018 Asian Games, Filipino athletes have always been positive about their chances against the competition. This mindset was clearly mirrored in the faces of PAAF (Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation) officials who were then at the forefront of massive preparations for the Philippine contingent.
If you look back to the country’s hosting of the 1954 edition, so much glowing chronicles of outstanding performances were written.
Sadly, this optimism is no longer present among incumbent officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee, the umbrella organization of all national sports associations peopled with overstaying and underachieving officials interested more on pursuing vested endeavors than excellence in their respective sports.
This mentality has – wittingly or unwittingly – seeped down into the psyche of many national team members who when interviewed, express timidity, hesitation and unsureness in their endeavors.
Today, if you ask Filipino athletes about their chances of garnering a medal, what you hear are hesitant remarks that border more on hope and negativism than any assurance of victory.
Consider that compared to their foreign counterparts who confidently declare their preparedness, many athletes who wear the national uniform can only state – in a haphazard way – a prayer that they will try their best to win.
Coaches mentoring their respective teams are also haltingly adamant to express their positive assessment.
This is because they know in their hearts that the technical and administrative support they get from their sports officials are inadequate.
The blame game then surfaces leading to the doorsteps of the Philippine Sports Commission whom the POC almost always takes to task when a debacle arises.
I am not praying for failure to haunt our country’s sports delegation.
Having covered the sports scene for more than 30 years at the Rizal Sports Complex, I have witnessed with my own eyes the mis-management and inadequacy of NSA and POC officials in the training and preparation of our national athletes.
“Walang pera, kulang sa suporta ang gobyerno,” was their usual retort.
Why, should the government eternally subsidize them? Why are they not seeking private commercial sponsorships? Have they become mendicants?
Much as the nation expects so much of the presidency as far as good governance is concerned, so much is likewise expected from the sports officialdom to perform above par.
Do you agree that sports excellence unites a nation?
Doesn’t it that every time Manny Pacquiao fights, there is zero crime all over the nation? Laughably, everybody is glued to the boob tube, including the criminals, the rebels in the boondocks and the secessionists. (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) “O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you” (Ps. 141:1). GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
