Davao’s latest breakthrough

Today, Davao City makes a sports breakthrough. The Davao City Collegiate League opens at the University of Mindanao campus, and is expected to draw over a thousand students. The league is composed of five Catholic colleges, five private colleges and two state universities. A rather ambitious project, it is centered on values which city mayor Rodrigo Duterte espouses, and is a vehicle for social intervention, a part of his Anti-Drug Education Program aimed at diminishing drug use among college students. Though well-known for his anti-smoking campaign in the city, Duterte’s pet peeve is actually drug use, particularly among the youth.

“This is part of the Davao City Comprehensive Sports Program,” explains former Philippine Sports Commission chairman and Davao City sports consultant Butch Ramirez. “This is for Davao City and Mindanao to contribute athletes to the UAAP, NCAA and to the national pool of athletes. The selection of athletes is just focused in Manila and Cebu. Davao and Mindanao have not been part of those pools of athletes.”

This is a major step in the sports program of Davao, which has been the venue for hundreds of running events and even major boxing matches in the past few years. Considered one of the largest cities in the world in terms of land area, Davao has always been a haven from the religious conflicts in other parts of Mindanao. It has also been very progressive, and has managed to avoid the big-city problems like traffic, pollution and crime that the country’s other urban centers have had to struggle with.

One of the keys has been the force of personality of Duterte himself. Nicknamed “Dirty Harry” for his stern enforcement of the law among his constituents, Duterte has shunned the traditional trappings and politicking that come with the job, over a decade ago. He started his “no smoking” campaign, and the public has adjusted. Airlines routinely announce the strict implementation of the law to inbound passengers. If you smoke under anything with a roof in Davao City, you will be apprehended. Even other elected officials, businessmen and foreign visitors have not been exempt. Although some consider his style of law enforcement harsh, it undeniably gets results, as the lawless have learned that Davao will not be a safe place for them to do business.

The one knock against Davao has been its lack of a proper sports complex, unlike Lanao del Norte, Cebu, Iloilo and Bacolod. Despite its massive size, no property has been allocated for sports. There was a controversy over ownership of a property in the middle of its hotel district, after the owner had promised the large lot to the city for sports development. However, upon the owner’s death, his children allegedly argued over how best to dispose of the property, and it was vacant for years. This has left Davao without facilities to host large multi-sport events on its own, though it has one of the most robust local sports communities in the country.

A few years ago, when Ramirez was still chair of the PSC, he and Duterte planned a state-of-the-art sports complex in Davao, also as a way of taking national athletes away from the politics and controversies that have hamstrung Philippine sports especially in Metro Manila. The plan was never seen through, as Ramirez was replaced by a chairman more suited to politicking. Ramirez, who sees himself first and foremost as an educator, was making headway being diplomatic with national sports association and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) officials. He was suddenly replaced. 

It was also during that time that Davao City hosted many events that used sports as a unifying factor in the culturally diverse region. Ramirez once held a “Bola, Hindi Bala” program and a multi-sport tournament that brought together Christians, Muslims and the lumads or indigenous peoples of the region. So successful were the programs that they were included in the national government’s peace process plans during the Arroyo administration, another feather in Ramirez’s cap.

The Davao City Collegiate League is a partnership with ABS-CBN, and features competitions in basketball for men and women and volleyball for men and women. The aim is to increase the level of sports development in Davao as a hub for the region. The long-term aim is to minimize the poaching of athletes just as they are about to hit their prime and make an impact on their schools’ sports teams. Many times, varsity athletes who participate in the Palarong Pambansa are scouted by big schools in Metro Manila, and are offered scholarships, television exposure and huge perks to lure them away from their mother schools. This has had a double-edged effect on school sports in the provinces. The provincial schools lose athletes they have developed, and get no compensation for their effort in scouting and training the raw athletes. Hopefully, the Davao league will eventually put a stop to that.

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A big story this week was Kobe Bryant’s new record in alleged futility. Bryant has now missed more than 13,000 field goal attempts, eclipsing the previous standard set by Boston Celtics legend John Havlicek. Hondo, who became the first well-known designated sixth man, took 16 years to set the dubious mark, which took the Los Angeles Lakers leader 19 years to surpass. Considering that Bryant has been taking more shots than the average player, why did it take him longer?

First of all, offenses were more dominant during Havlicek’s run between Bob Cousy’s final season and Larry Bird’s rookie year in the NBA. Defenses were not as sophisticated, and more teams simply chose to run. Today, Bryant has been the object of many complex defensive schemes, is routinely double-teamed, and has spent more time at the free throw line than most active players. In a way, Havlicek was also something of a “fire extinguisher” for Red Auerbach, inserted into a game when they needed points in a hurry, which resulted in a lot of misses. 

But perhaps what is most notable is that both Bryant and Havlicek have the reputation for fearlessness, and never shied away from taking the big shot. Both have been winners on a grand scale. And in the end, that’s what people will remember.