Grassroots sports development

LAST week, the Philippine Sports Commission held the 2nd Inter-Public Schools Volleyball Tournament at the DCNHS grounds. This is in line with the mandate of the commission to strengthen the grassroots sports program in the country.

Happening this week as well is the Batang Pinoy 2018 games in Baguio City. Unfortunately, Davao City and Davao del Norte cancelled their participation, not wanting to put the delegates at risk with the onslaught of the typhoon and preparations for the opening went for naught as the organizers opted to cancel it due to typhoon as well.

With all these initiatives of the PSC for a genuine grassroots sports program partnered with the LGUs and the Department of Education (Deped), one begins to ask, how come we still fare poorly in the SEA and Asian games? Haven’t we able to spot the next Lydia de Vega, Elma Muros, Eric Buhain and Onyok Velasco from among the student-athletes who have stood out in the recent Batang Pinoy, Palarong Pambansa and the Philippine National Games?

These questions beg to be answered. With the support being extended by the Philippine Sports Commission through various grassroots programs and projects, why are we still lagging behind our SEA & Asian contemporaries?

With the recent performance of the country at the Asian Games, a bit better than 22nd place from 2014 at 19th, but still leaves a lot to be desired in the future competitions, most of the medalists are our homegrown athletes, led by Hidylin Diaz and Margielyn Didal.

In strengthening the grassroots sports program of the country, maybe it’s time to reconsider the paths our student athletes take towards being part of the national teams. A possibility could be for elementary student-athletes conclude in the Palarong Pambansa, high school athletes compete at the Batang Pinoy and senior high athletes wind-up with the Philippine National Games.

With this setup, it lessens the budget needed to organize and conduct the sports event and limits the redundancy of the competitions. This “clear cut” path in sports developments can help the coaches train their athletes for optimum performance knowing that they will be competing with student-athletes from their own age-groups, putting no child at a disadvantage.

Maybe if the agencies concerned will consider this, the next big idols in Philippine sports will emerge sooner than expected.

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