Patronize local

Many years back, men and women wore almost the same outfits like pants so loose it takes three meters of cloth to finish a pair.  Colored shirts and blouses will put a rainbow in hibernation.  And there were those heavy and clunky platform shoes and clogs that make a wearer 2 to 4 inches taller instantly, yes, men and women alike.   Athletic uniforms then were skin tight and shorts were really shorts.  Those were the psychedelic 70s.  Yeah, yeah, I was a fashion victim of that era.

It was during those times that foreign coaches (except for football) were still unheard of in the local amateur sporting world.  There were probably some but in a consulting capacity.  Teams were populated by locals with a few players of mixed parentage. 

Times changed and then came a bunch of Cuban boxing coaches whom local sporting wise guys declared would make our amateur boxers world class.  Box indeed they did versus the world but more often were outclassed and outgunned.  The coaches meanwhile are happily puffing on their cigars, safely protected by their contracts. 

The Cubans came and went and never lived up to the hype.   There was no lasting impact on that perceived excellence on the sport from those people as up to now, we still have to show real success in Olympic boxing competitions.  At least, our boxers are handled by local coaches and trainers, to the best of my assumption.

In basketball, where we are so passionate about and sometimes have an encyclopaedic knowledge, we had, at some points in time, Americans, Serbians and Kiwis handling the national team.  We were successful in the regional setting but dreams become nightmares in the international stage. 

Sometimes reason defies logic in basketball.  We have the talent and the skills but we can never, ever compare with the South and North Americans and the Europeans size-wise.  We so love this game for giants so much that we forget we are a race of average heights.  Exactly how can a lanky 6-7 Filipino center matchup against a muscled and agile 7-foot Caucasian?  It’s not about foreign coaches, it’s all about freaking size.  Maybe Chot Reyes can swing the tide.

We also had Scots, Argentines, Japanese, Spanish, Germans and Americans handling our national football team.  The Azkal glory years of a few years past are gone.  I hear some kind of discord, of diva-like attitudes from the more popular members of the team.  I hope this is not true.  What ever happened to playing for flag and country without asking for concessions? 

PSC Chair William Ramirez is in favor of hiring local coaches over foreigners.  He said something to this effect that since we can’t produce medals with imports handling teams, we might as well have the locals take charge.  This is a sane logic.  Why spend on imported coaches when we can have our own local mentors with roughly the same results.

There is always that language barrier with foreign coaches, specially if they came from non-English speaking countries.  At least with the locals, things can be relayed easily and concerns addressed without going thru channels.  The PSC can give attractive compensations to trainers and coaches, at the same time save on other perks reserved for foreigners.

People may argue that foreigners are better equipped to handle teams because of their advance trainings.  Well, why not spend for a few of these sports specialist to conduct a clinic/seminar for our local coaches who will then apply what they learned and adapt to the local setting.  Problem solved.  There’s no need for a long term contract.  Give the contracts to the Filipino coaches. 

We have a good number of capable coaches who are now handling teams outside the country.  Why?  Because our sporting agencies treat them as second-class and if ever they do get hired, a high school kid has a bigger monthly allowance than a coach’s salary.  The next best thing for them is to seek higher pay far and away from their families and country. 

Maybe with local coaches, we just might have a transition from has-beens to perennial contenders.  And just maybe, track and field legend Lydia de Vega will consider coming home from Singapore and handle our track athletes.  Be local, be proud.

***

I hope UV assistant coach and chief scout Van Halen Parmis’ example will spread among well-meaning sports people.  Recently, he held a multi-sport training/clinic at a school run by nuns at Minglanilla where several

 hundreds of youngsters availed of the clinic.  The results were positive that the Cebu Provincial Sports Commission took notice of some promising talents in basketball, tennis and football.

With the planned inter-city and municipality tournament sometime this March by CPSC, the clinic has become an automatic pool of sporting talents.  For a good and noble cause, there will always be willing sponsors and co-operators.  Job well done, Coach Van.