I was disappointed with the opening of the South East Asian games because of the song that the organizers played when the athletes of the Philippines made their grand entrance. But today, it is totally a different story. We are now winning medals and proving to the world that we can make up, one step at a time.
Of course, who wouldn't be proud that our own homegrown talents have harvested not just ordinary medals but no less than the gold. Some of these talents have been our usual new sources and in some levels, friends. Dance sports gold medalist Pearl Cañeda was a good friend of mine as we were schoolmates in high school. When she clinched the gold, we were all smiles. We knew where she came from and what she has become is something else.
But despite the glimmer in the gold, I hope we don’t forget what the athletes should be getting in the end --endless support and the financial prize. While pride and honor is something that you cannot pay off, the athletes need compensation for their hard work. There is time that cannot be returned and energy that is hard to regain. They deserve to receive the cash prize as stated by law, as well as the many other privileges they should have.
What is the lesson of this all? I guess it’s time for us to also focus on the sports arena. We have become so engrossed in next-door gossip but have forgotten to enroll our child in the sports clinic just down the street. Not that sports is a way for the next generation to earn an income, but it is more than that. It teaches them discipline and humility, which are values that cannot be taught in the classroom. With sports, they are bound to make friends and adjust to whatever the competition demands of them. It would be so nice to see a roster of young individuals who are tough but reasonable because of the training they had because of sports.
On top of it all, we are also teaching the next generation to shy away from the digital world which is slowly consuming their real dimension. I'm talking about children spending less time with screens and using their resources to develop their physical abilities. Wouldn't it be so nice to have a kind of a generation like this once more? The only thing they have to worry are the bruises and scratches they will get from training.
I don't know when the next SEA games will happen in our country but I hope this time, from the opening until the end, that we will be able to grasp a lesson or two. This may be not applicable right away but in time we will understand why we need to internalize everything that has happened since day one. We all have a long way to go when it comes to sports, but this is just the start.