Sports blessings in 2011

A spectacular Christmas to all faithful readers of The STAR. May God continue to watch over us all with His endless peace, love and abundance. We have already seen many blessings in the year 2010, and for this, we are extremely grateful.

This year has been a magnificent one for Philippine sports, full of change, accomplishment and hope. 2011 promises to have more breakthroughs, with sports that have spent too much time in the shadows now emerging to take their rightful place along the staples of basketball, boxing and billiards. Breakthroughs came in abundance, and will continue to pour out, thanks to the momentum generated in 2010.

Azkals on the prowl. The reason why Philippine football resonated so much with Filipinos is that our boys were literally and figuratively underdogs throughout the AFF Suzuki Cup. Their beating such long odds brought to light the problems of the sport, and was timed to perfection with the change in leadership in the Philippine Football Federation.

The timely intervention of ABS-CBN, sports patron Manny Pangilinan and new sponsors has broadened the attention to the team, which is still in disbelief at the attention they are getting.

But this is just the beginning. FIFA is sending an auditing team to the country to check the PFF’s books and bring closure to the tempestuous past. Over two dozen Fil-foreigners have stepped out of the ether of anonymity as recruits or applicants for the Philippine team.

The talent level is jumping, pump-priming new interest among the youth. The opportunity to host the matches against Mongolia has a solid chance of happening, and the team has three major tournaments next year. And most significantly, in a country weaned on instant gratification in sports, we are learning to appreciate two things: strategy and a close struggle, and low scores earned with great difficulty.

Women’s basketball breakthrough. The Philippine women’s basketball team has never been a champion at the Southeast Asian level. And the girls have battled on as the poor sisters of our various men’s and youth teams. But the conquest of the women’s SEABA tournament has propelled them to a new opportunity, to take on Indonesia and Malaysia and be the best in Southeast Asia. With more recruitment, international trips and a crucial naturalization in the works, 2011 will be the bigger breakthrough for the women’s team.

One thing the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas has on the table is a travel itinerary to other Southeast Asian and Asian contenders, and a invitational tournament against teams we will face in the SEA Games.

The one thing that our women players ask for is the chance to measure themselves against the region’s best, so we know our starting point and how far we need to go to beat the best in Asia. The team has taken a short holiday break but will be back on the court for practice in mid-January.

Bodybuilding’s new muscle. Two big events in November have cast a new spotlight on bodybuilding. The unlikely but overwhelming victory of Luisa McClinton at the FAME World Championships in Las Vegas proved that, even without support, a Filipina can be world bodybuilding champion. McClinton’s marketing team is now trying to recruit sponsors for next year’s campaign, which includes trips to Australia and Europe, not to mention a shot at defending her FAME title.

Also in November, the Maskulino Pilipino national bodybuilding championships held in Tubod, Lanao del Norte brought together the typically fractured bodybuilding community, under the direct eye of its Asian governing body, the ABBF. With plans underway for the next edition in front of an even bigger audience, bodybuilding will start grabbing its share of sports headlines in 2011.

Strong SEA Games showing. Giving the order to prepare this early for the Southeast Asian Games a year from now, Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia is setting the tone for things to come.

Given the short lead time for the Asian Games (and the absence of television coverage), the PSC and the Philippine Olympic Committee have made failure unacceptable. As long as internal politics does not become a factor, this will be a refreshing change for the athletes who earn the right to go to Palembang, Indonesia.

The strong ties between the PSC and POC, and the heavy backroom work that the new sports administration has been undertaking will all bear fruit in 2011. The Sports Summit jointly organized by both bodies has painted the picture of where we are and where we want to go. The outline presented was very precise, and also painful to see. The embarrassments of the immediate past will also spur the PSC-POC combine to eliminate the dictatorships and corruption that have held back many of our sports, and usher in what we hope will be a new era of professionalism. The plans will all pay dividends in 2011, assuming no internal conflicts rise, and there are no changes in the leaderships of either side.

On Monday, we spotlight more sports and athletes who will have big breakthroughs for the country in 2011.