PSC to raise athletes meal allowance

Chairman Butch Ramirez of the PSC yesterday said the government sports agency is seriously considering increasing the daily meal allowance of the national athletes from P350 to P500.

"We are evaluating their needs. And if it says that we need to spend P500 a day for every athlete, then we will give it. We will make sure that they get their food requirement," said Ramirez.

The hundreds of athletes belonging to Classes A, B and C and the training pool receive meal allowances of P350 a day. It seems that they need more than this to really stay in tip-top shape.

For starters, the PSC has allocated P5 million for the upgrading of the athletes’ cafeteria at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. The project starts this week and should be over in a month..

The PSC will bid out the running of the new cafeteria.

"We will make sure that the money to be spent will go to the athletes’ stomach and not to the caterer," said Ramirez who also bared plans to hire a new set of nutritionists, dieticians and conditioning experts.

Providing all athletes based at the RMSC, Philsports in Pasig and Teachers Camp in Baguio City with an extra load of carbohydrates even at night time is also part of the plan.

"There will be 24-hour feeding stations set up so the athletes can have something to consume before they sleep which is hours after they take their dinner.

"This way, they do not get hungry in the middle of the night, and will have enough energy in them when they wake up early in the morning to train," Ramirez said.