Samante: Looking back, moving forward

Samante: Looking back, moving forward

IN TWO weeks, the Philippine Sports Commission will host the National Sports Summit 2020.

It is the second national sports summit to be undertaken by the commission. In October 1992, the first summit was in Baguio City. This summit was during the tenure of Dr. Aparicio Mequi as PSC Chairman from 1992-93. In the said summit, no less than the former president, Fidel V. Ramos, was the keynote speaker, and he underscored the importance of sports in nation-building and people empowerment. The summit was attended well by different sports practitioners, leaders, and program planners in democratic participation for sports direction.

Twenty-eight years henceforth, the commission has again organized a national sports summit. The summit will be from February 27-28 at the PICC in Pasay City.

As with the changing times, this summit will have no less than United States Sports Academy (USSA) CEO and president, TJ Rosandich, as one of the key presenters. It somehow makes the trajectory of sports in our country more adaptable to the global world. PSC has partnered with the USSA in the delivery of a sports education and training program to strengthen the capacity of local sports practitioners, which will kick off starting this 2020.

In almost three decades, has the realizations from the 1992 sports summit been actualized, or are we still working on them? It might be useful to start the summit by looking back to how far we are from the goals set before. Correct that we have seen the resurgence of Philippine sports in the last three years. If the previous three years is the gauge of success for the direction of our sport, then what happened to the other 25 years? Can we at least assess those "lost years"?

In organizing the summit, I also urge the commission to consider walk-in participants/observers from the provinces, even at their expenses. It paves the way for a more inclusive sports agenda at the start of the new decade. Each of us has our stories to tell, and these sports leaders from the peripheries can also share invaluable experiences that can strengthen the direction we are charting.

"There is power in understanding the journey of others to help create your own"-Kobe Bryant.

Notes from the sidelines:

Thank you to Doc Perry Mequi for sharing his notes from the 1st Philippine Sports Summit.

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