Taking care of athletes

They say that half of the job (or even more) in producing top-quality athletes comes from what happens behind the scenes of an athlete’s life. His or her performance out there on the field is a reflection of how well cared for he/she is when off the court. In the recent months, we’ve had the chance to take a peek at the way athletes have been either pampered or treated shabbily.

Unknown to many, the Philippine 14-Under football team is quietly training at the Don Bosco Boys Home in Liloan for an upcoming tournament in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The country’s best 13 and 14 year old football players are camped out in Liloan under the strict watch of the national team coaching staff led by Oliver Colina. The more interesting footnote to this is that the Cebu Amateur Football Club (CAFC) is reportedly financing the training of the team while here in Cebu. On paper, it all sounds good, doesn’t it? But some things don’t seem right. Don’t get me wrong. The Don Bosco Boys Home, under the management of Fr. Jun Paradiang, is a very able host for anything from its orphans all the way to special boot camps like this. And the CAFC is also more than qualified to take care of the team. But we’re talking about the Philippine team here, and not just any other team. And where is the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) in all this? And before I forget, will the Cebu Football Association (CFA) lend a hand?

The bottom line question is that should this be the way to take care of the national team, a team that will carry the colors of the country in a tournament next month? Is this the way the PFF takes care of all its national teams? Surely, a national team deserves more. After all, aren’t they the best of the best?

A shift to basketball might give us a better understanding of the situation. When the Nokia-Philippine Youth Under-16 team played in a pocket tournament in Cebu last year, they were booked in a posh hotel, rode in air-conditioned buses and fed like kings. The team management made sure that everyone slept comfortably, ate well and would be well-rested in time for their games. So complete was the management staff that included a nutritionist, a physical therapist, a doctor and a motherly figure. As a result, the team won the tune-up tournament and eventually placed fourth in the Asian Youth Basketball Championship behind powerhouses China, Korea and Iran.

This brings me to the recent Palarong Pambansa in Tarlac where the country’s top athletes of both the high school and grade school levels converged. As in all Palaro’s, the athletes were made to sleep on one-inch foams in public elementary schools. Food was sufficient, but not perfect to feed hungry athletes who need a lot of energy to perform well. The temporary homes of each region were like bunkhouses of soldiers going to war. I’ll tend to understand the Palaro situation in the sense that it’s a huge endeavor involving over 4,000 athletes from all over the country. Feeding and taking care of all of them is one herculean task that will not be perfected in the next ten to twenty years. This is why some private individuals lend a hand to make things easier. Some donate electric fans, extra foams and even take care of the laundry. Others even booked special accommodations in pension houses, apartments or hotels in Tarlac.

To take care of a national football team of 20 players and a coaching staff shouldn’t be that difficult for the PFF. And neither can they say that there’s no funding for such projects. Maybe this is one of the reasons why we haven’t excelled in international football in a long time. If football’s leaders think this way, the results will be obvious. We should thank CAFC and Don Bosco Boys Home for accepting the team’s training needs. But their hands are also tied. Managing national teams isn’t their core competence.

In the end, the PFF’s way of taking care of its national teams will stand out like a sore thumb. I just hope they realize this before it’s too late.

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Time-out: The Milo BEST Basketball Clinic will be held May 17-22 at the Sacred Heart School Mango Campus Gym. For more info, pls. contact 583-7196, 0918-939-4846 or [email protected]. >>> Happy birthday to my favorite accountant, Nars Ursal Sy!