Vicente: Patience is a virtue

SPORTS as many would say is an avenue of many values. With the right guidance and mentoring the proper values could be instilled in an athlete, Sports is undoubtedly a very good character builder due to its comprehensiveness. Sports induces an athlete to adjust, change and develop as he faces many challenges and sacrifices. An athlete who survives in sports most likely is ready for the world.

The world of sports is not all fame and fortune. Many perceives this phenomenal world as they see and observe the lives of Manny Pacquiao, Michael Jordan, the Younghusbands of the Azkals just to name some. But what we see are the triumphs they have achieved, the fruits of their labor, the prize of their sacrifices. What we do not see and what we don’t give much attention to is the rough roads that they have taken just to reach their present destination.

We have to understand that while there are successful athletes who have gained fortune out of their sacrifices, a fortune that they deserve having earned it with “sweat and blood”, there is a bigger percentage of athletes, who after giving almost majority of their time and effort to the sport in order to give honor to their beloved country and represent its people in international competitions, are unfortunately struggling in life without any compensation or subsidy from our government. Forgotten and unrecognized they patiently appeal for help from authorities hoping that in their persistence they could touch the hearts of those who are suppose to work for their much deserved recognition and help them in starting over as retired athletes.

It is a painful sight especially for athletes to see former athletes starving and struggling in their day to day life after their prime, with no signs and indication as heroes as they were formerly called and regarded.

These are the very reasons why many athletes today find a way to send themselves to school, targeting scholarships that Universities offer to potential and exceptional athletes. This could very well be the answer to the rampant discrimination, lack of importance to future of athletes. This could very well be the tool that could give the athletes assurance that after their prime they could have a job and not end up waiting for a subsidy from government.

Sports as viewed by an expert raise the quality of a nation, it catapults the image of any country into a respectable state, and one good example is South Africa under then President Nelson Mandela who saw rugby as a tool to bring his ailing country into international limelight and unite his people in rebuilding their civil war torn nation.

Sports is a world full of optimistic possibilities. The only problem is that it is already penetrated by opportunists who give no regard to our athletes. There will be a time that one of our leaders or one leader can see the essential of sports and come up with a measure to relieve it of destructive politics and let it be a useful tool to build our nation.