Gold Mine of Sports
Bleacher Talk
Jan. 21, 2007
Gold Mine of Sports
Every time the feast of the Sto. Niño comes around, we are always reminded about one of the most important elements of a successful sports program: the youth. If you evaluate the current state of sports in the country and analyze why our ASEAN neighbors and the rest of the world have left us behind, one glaring missing link sticks out like a sore thumb.
The country does not have a true and genuine national sports program for the youth that could’ve served as the foundation and source of the country’s world-beaters today and beyond. Let’s face it. Everyone talks about winning that first-ever gold medal at the Olympics. We all want to see more of the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Paeng Nepomuceno, and Efren “Bata” Reyes. There’s definitely nothing wrong with dreaming big, but shouldn’t these dreams be backed up by a strong sense of urgency to get things done?
If you look at the most successful sports in the world, you can’t help but notice that these countries have strong sports programs for the youth that spread out to almost the entire nation. While we all tend to see only the cream of the crop at the professional level of sports, we forget to see the wide base of talents composed of teen-agers and children from where these pros came.
If one takes a closer look at football, one will see that underneath the stars and glitz of Manchester United, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona are thousands of young upstarts following in the footsteps of today’s stars in Ronaldino, Thierre Henry, Jens Lehman, Michael Ballack and others. Today’s football heroes were also once simple teen-agers and kids who started playing football more for fun than anything else. When they realized the potential they saw in themselves, this interest in football became more “serious” before eventually becoming a career. But before getting to where they are now, they invested long years of hard work, practice and competition when they were younger, a feat that the regular fan doesn’t see at all.
The big question for us is if we have such a scenario in the country today. Do we have a Ronaldino who got to the top with the help of a youth program that helped him learn his favorite sport, develop his skills and guide him to where he is now?
If you were a biased for our Philippine sports leaders, you’d say “Yes, we do have a program for the youth.” But if you were biased for Philippine sports with a true love for it, you’ll most likely say otherwise.
Yes, there are sports programs for the youth, but these can be counted with our own hands. We have a population of around 85 million people, but the current sports programs for the youth have centered on the primary urban centers of the country and have not been able to spread out to other areas.
According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the country’s projected population of people from the ages of 5-19 years old (for 2005) is 28.4 million. This is 33% of today’s estimated population. How many from this 28.4 million young boys and girls are involved in sports programs initiated by our sports leaders today? Or better yet, could you imagine if even only 5% (1.4 million) of them were now into one or two sports? That’s already a huge base of talents from which one could find the country’s future Olympic gold medal, di ba?
I just wish that instead of complaining about the lack of funds and worrying about politics, our sports leaders look into these numbers and realize that there’s a gold mine out there waiting to be tapped. One thing for sure is that today’s sports programs for the youth barely scratch the surface of the barrel of 28.4 million teen-agers, tweens and kids.
While we in Cebu can brag about the successful youth programs that we have for basketball, boxing, football, swimming, tennis and the different martial arts, it would be worth reviewing how much of Cebu’s youth population we’ve been able to reach in these programs and compare this up against a national reading. And we just can’t say we’re doing enough when there’s so much more to tap both within Metro Cebu and beyond.
As we celebrate the feast of the Sto. Niño, let’s not forget that we were all once kids, and our respective careers, positions and place in today’s society were a result of what we did as kids.
Pit Senyor!
+++
Time-out: Congratulations to Bebot and Pinky Licuanan on the birth of David Lance Licuanan. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
Jan. 21, 2007
Gold Mine of Sports
Every time the feast of the Sto. Niño comes around, we are always reminded about one of the most important elements of a successful sports program: the youth. If you evaluate the current state of sports in the country and analyze why our ASEAN neighbors and the rest of the world have left us behind, one glaring missing link sticks out like a sore thumb.
The country does not have a true and genuine national sports program for the youth that could’ve served as the foundation and source of the country’s world-beaters today and beyond. Let’s face it. Everyone talks about winning that first-ever gold medal at the Olympics. We all want to see more of the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Paeng Nepomuceno, and Efren “Bata” Reyes. There’s definitely nothing wrong with dreaming big, but shouldn’t these dreams be backed up by a strong sense of urgency to get things done?
If you look at the most successful sports in the world, you can’t help but notice that these countries have strong sports programs for the youth that spread out to almost the entire nation. While we all tend to see only the cream of the crop at the professional level of sports, we forget to see the wide base of talents composed of teen-agers and children from where these pros came.
If one takes a closer look at football, one will see that underneath the stars and glitz of Manchester United, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona are thousands of young upstarts following in the footsteps of today’s stars in Ronaldino, Thierre Henry, Jens Lehman, Michael Ballack and others. Today’s football heroes were also once simple teen-agers and kids who started playing football more for fun than anything else. When they realized the potential they saw in themselves, this interest in football became more “serious” before eventually becoming a career. But before getting to where they are now, they invested long years of hard work, practice and competition when they were younger, a feat that the regular fan doesn’t see at all.
The big question for us is if we have such a scenario in the country today. Do we have a Ronaldino who got to the top with the help of a youth program that helped him learn his favorite sport, develop his skills and guide him to where he is now?
If you were a biased for our Philippine sports leaders, you’d say “Yes, we do have a program for the youth.” But if you were biased for Philippine sports with a true love for it, you’ll most likely say otherwise.
Yes, there are sports programs for the youth, but these can be counted with our own hands. We have a population of around 85 million people, but the current sports programs for the youth have centered on the primary urban centers of the country and have not been able to spread out to other areas.
According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the country’s projected population of people from the ages of 5-19 years old (for 2005) is 28.4 million. This is 33% of today’s estimated population. How many from this 28.4 million young boys and girls are involved in sports programs initiated by our sports leaders today? Or better yet, could you imagine if even only 5% (1.4 million) of them were now into one or two sports? That’s already a huge base of talents from which one could find the country’s future Olympic gold medal, di ba?
I just wish that instead of complaining about the lack of funds and worrying about politics, our sports leaders look into these numbers and realize that there’s a gold mine out there waiting to be tapped. One thing for sure is that today’s sports programs for the youth barely scratch the surface of the barrel of 28.4 million teen-agers, tweens and kids.
While we in Cebu can brag about the successful youth programs that we have for basketball, boxing, football, swimming, tennis and the different martial arts, it would be worth reviewing how much of Cebu’s youth population we’ve been able to reach in these programs and compare this up against a national reading. And we just can’t say we’re doing enough when there’s so much more to tap both within Metro Cebu and beyond.
As we celebrate the feast of the Sto. Niño, let’s not forget that we were all once kids, and our respective careers, positions and place in today’s society were a result of what we did as kids.
Pit Senyor!
+++
Time-out: Congratulations to Bebot and Pinky Licuanan on the birth of David Lance Licuanan. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
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