Because he asked

The world is still experiencing the “Olympics hangover” and it manifests in different forms.

In Bangkok, Thailand, people come across big billboards along major roads featuring photos of individual kids posing for a particular sport. Could be golf or maybe tennis and the message says that these young kids may be participating in the 2032 Olympics.

The message is generational. What’s interesting is that the “advertiser” is not in athletics, it’s iPhone.

In the Philippines, people were initially all proud and patriotic after Filipino athletes brought home the two gold medals in gymnastics and two bronze medals in boxing. But all that was quickly and tragically overtaken by the family TV drama of the Yulo mother and son aired by some media outlet. This was then followed by recycled “interest” or “desire” to solve the ills of Philippine sports.

Everyone seems to have the same question during this Olympics hangover: what will it take to have Olympic caliber athletes and teams? During a wedding I recently attended, people wondered how to build up consistently winning champion volleyball teams and how can the Philippines break into the top rank competition?

Those regularly watching the news may have heard and seen President Bongbong Marcos saying he would like to ask two-time Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo what needs to be done, what are the problems and how can the Philippines help athletes. The President may have given a well-timed soundbite, but it was not convincing.

For starters, President Bongbong Marcos is no stranger to athletics. Yes, he was once an athlete, a swimmer in fact for the De La Salle-Greenhills High School swimming team. He may have been Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s son, but he was not blind to his surroundings, such as the facilities of the old Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Back in those days, his uncle Michael Keon had hopes and dreams for Philippine sports, but world champions are not made overnight or in four years. Even our current heroes and icons have tales of struggles, defeats and victories as well as nightmares from politics in sports.

Unfortunately, the latter has been disrupting the progress of Philippine sports regularly because of meddlesome politicians, political appointees and washed-up geriatric athletes who did not prepare for retirement and obsolescence. The Local Government Code did not help either.

“Because he asked,” I find it hard to resist answering the questions raised by the President. To be clear, there is probably nothing new in what I will be sharing except in the area of “professional management” and “tax exemption benefits” and for the government to step down to the position of “enabler” rather than controller.

If the President wants to get on with “The Program,” it may be wise to engage the private sector groups and personalities and established executive management groups to design different athletic programs that can be operated and managed by true executives and professionals, not political appointees who elect themselves over and over again in NSAs.

There is nothing wrong with appointing coaches and experienced athletes, but they must have more to offer than medals and past feats. They should also have the managerial skill and, even better, degrees and experience in executive management or MBAs to better care for long-term investments and finances.

As I mentioned earlier, champions take decades to raise and train for international competition. The government must bring back the competitive sports, particularly individual sports, starting with the original PE or Physical Education program we had in the 60’s.

Instead of pushing for CAT or CMT or ROTC, let Filipinos use the time and resources in athletics where they will willingly undergo discipline in competition.

Next to PE, PBBM and Congress should invite and incentivize private corporations to build authentic sports academies that focus on grassroots programs or specialized sports centers that have been producing great athletes since the time of Lydia de Vega until today in the UAAP and NCAA basketball and volleyball programs.

Provide legislation that will allow the large investments in building and running these dedicated sports academies to be tax deductible. By making sports academies a tax deductible arrangement, the government is effectively sharing the cost but getting better returns in terms of professionally built facilities and management of resources.

Professionals in the private sector demand more for their money in terms of ROI, outputs, targets and goals. The arrangement could be similar to “professional management” contracts where the private sector runs everything, deletes political patronage, corruption and favoritism.

As evidenced by results in the Paris Olympics, Filipinos stand a better chance in individual sports such as gymnastics, boxing, golf, rowing and track and field. Given the time and training and incentives, we could get into competitive swimming and fencing, where American-Filipina athletes proved superior or taekwondo where Thailand won a gold.

Weightlifting, of course, has been proven as a hunting ground for medals and many Asian countries have consistently worked in this area. We have not invested much in diving, tennis or even table tennis where height is not the deciding factor, or perhaps even cycling.

If the Philippines and Filipino athletes want to compete and excel in the Olympics, then go about it like a business, the same way many of the developed world has done. Use media resources and public information to give light to other non-commercialized sports and build up the dedicated athletes and icons who have sacrificially stuck it out in individual sports.

It is time to popularize individual sports, not political propaganda. Perhaps this can be a better mission for PTV-4 and the Presidential Communications Office.