Sports gurus rate Pinoy body highly

MANILA, Philippines - Two foreign consultants in town to assess the body mechanics of athletes from 13 sports and conduct a science seminar in a week-long program said the other day the distinct Filipino physique has the capacity to perform at a high level in certain weight-based events where size isn’t as critical as the strength-to-flexibility ratio.

PSC chairman Richie Garcia said it’s the sixth of a series of evaluations that physical education expert Samantha Cabrera, who is accredited by the Olympic Council of Asia, has organized to examine how to improve performance of and prevent injury to Filipino athletes.

The consultants who arrived to handle the course are Dr. Scott Lynn, 37, and Terry Rowles, 43. Lynn earned a doctorate in biomechanics at Quebec University in Canada and has extensive experience working with athletes in ice hockey, American football, golf and baseball. Rowles attended Kingston University in London and is a sports coaching consultant with an extensive background in golf. Both are affiliated with Sports Performance University (SPU) based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Cabrera founded SPU which has a network of over 15 biomechanics experts, coaches, therapists and consultants from Australia, England, Canada, the US and other countries. SPU boasts of a network with a combined sports experience of over 200 years.

SPU has worked with the Los Angeles Kings pro hockey team, the US Olympic team in several sports, cyclist Lance Armstrong, golfer Tiger Woods, the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese basketball league, NFL athletes, gymnasts and others.

“Our assessment is quantifiable,” said Rowles. “We’re not doing an evaluation based on any particular sport. Our focus is human being-specific. We’re looking at the right way to move and from there, we develop a program to succeed. We’re not just doing corrective examinations. We’re also doing prehab which is different from rehab, meaning we want to prevent the incidence of injury. Our ultimate goal is to maximize an athlete’s chance of performing at a high level to win. Take, for instance, a dragon boat rower who develops an imbalance in his body strength because he’s used to paddle only one way. It’s like running a car with a flat tire. You’ve got to develop your entire body and not just concentrate on strengthening one side if you’re a rower. We’ve got drills to test the athletes and check where they need to develop physically.”

The assessment started at the PSC Gym in the PhilSports Complex last Tuesday involving athletes from traditional boat race and canoe-kayak. The evaluation went from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Epifanio Cordero coordinating. The next day, athletes from judo, muay and wushu took part in the program supervised by Warren Velasco. On Thursday, it was the turn of athletes from billiards, wrestling and cycling with coordinator Emmalyn Bamba. Last Friday, athletes from taekwondo, rowing and archery came with Charmaine Villasis as coordinator. Athletes from boxing and athletics were assessed last Saturday with Elmer Rivera coordinating.

Today, the consultants begin a three-day sports science seminar at the PhilSports Complex from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. to discuss their findings during the assessment period and lay out a program for development with national coaches and representatives from the Department of Education and Local Government Units.

“We’re quite impressed with the body of the typical Filipino athlete,” said Rowles. “For instance, the squatting pattern of a Filipino athlete is better than most athletes from other countries and that may be because of something cultural. We think the Filipino body has a lot of potential, it’s extremely flexible and mobile. The strength-to-flexibility ratio is excellent. We believe the Filipino athlete has a huge potential to excel in weight-based sports like weightlifting or any of the combat sports. The strength-to-weight ratio of a Filipino athlete gives us basis to be optimistic of high level of performance in international competitions.”

Garcia said the participation of the foreign consultants is vital in elevating the level of awareness of the importance of sports science among athletes and coaches alike. “We’re bringing in coaches and physical education instructors from the LGUs and the Department of Education to attend the three-day seminar with Scott and Terry,” he said. “So we’re establishing the groundwork or the fundamentals of biomechanics not only for the elite program but also for grassroots development.” The assessment sets the benchmarks from where athletes may be trained to optimize performance.

POC president Jose Cojuangco, Jr. has often remarked that the area of sports science is where there has to be more awareness in pushing Filipino athletes to excel on the international stage. Conditioning, body movement and strength training are key components in building an athlete’s physical well-being to achieve success. Other components are nutrition. mental toughness and skills development.