DESPITE the pandemic, the country's sporting community is abuzz about House Bill 1526 that seeks to prohibit minors from participating in competitive full-contact sports such as boxing, mixed martial arts, jiu-jitsu, muay thai, judo, and various forms of full-contact karate.

Ako Bicol Reps. Alfredo Garbin Jr. and Elizaldy Co filed House Bill No. 1526, entitled, "An Act Banning Minors from Full-Contact Competitive Sports".

The bill also wants to regulate minors' participation in leisure, non-competitive sports, and training.

Garbin, in earlier reports from online news sites, said the bill only seeks to protect the minors and provides safeguards for them.

"Ang ayaw natin ay ang full-blown competition where a participant is expected to exert maximum force on a minor without any protection whatsoever," he added.

He also reportedly said in a statement that the proposed legislation only intends to spare and protect children from injury and death as he himself brought up five young athletes who died, including 16-year-old boxer Jonas Joshua Garcia. The latter reportedly died due to internal brain bleeding in December 2013. The intention is good but the process is questionable.

Garbin does not believe that the bill, once enacted into law, would be a big blow to the country's chances of winning the coveted gold medal in the Olympics.

I could not help but be amused by his statement, saying, "Pero sa aking pagkaka-alam and this is verifiable in the Olympics website, minors are not allowed to participate in Olympic boxing."

LOL.

Of course, minors are not really allowed in Olympics boxing and in other martial arts. Each sports federation has its own age limit. Also, the athletes who earn slots to the world's premier sports spectacle also do not become Olympians overnight.

They all started young. I'm not certain though if there are quite a good number of martial arts athletes from different parts of the globe who became Olympians without starting with their sports while they were minors.

Powerhouse Olympic countries such as the USA, China, Great Britain, and Russia undoubtedly have very good grassroots sports development programs to sustain a strong pool of talents for all age groups until they are ready for world-class competitions such as the Olympics.

Interestingly, these four countries scored several gold medals, silvers, and bronzes in full contact sports such as wrestling, boxing, judo, and taekwondo in the 2016 Olympics.

But then again, let us not assume all these Olympic medalists started preparing for their Olympic dreams as adults. Most athletes train as early as three or four years old or during their grade school years.

Davao Region alone has its own share of full-contact sport Olympians, the likes of boxers Mark Anthony Barriga of Panabo City and Charly Suarez of Sawata, Davao del Norte. I remember both of them competed in various local, regional, and national amateur boxing competitions at such an early age before they joined the national boxing team.

If this bill passes the House or the Senate, we can start saying goodbye to our hunt for the Olympic gold since experts consider martial arts as our strongest hope to achieve such a feat.