Mikee Romero: The new face of Philippine sports

MANILA, Philippines - Who in the Philippines should be regarded as a national sports icon?

As opinion makers labor to dissect qualifications to this reference, a sportsman, through and through, is all the while redefining Philippine sports.

Mikee L. Romero’s deeds, at 41, have attained national impact, and all together, comprise a tough act to follow.

With his trailblazing achievements, the Philippine Sportswriters Association has chosen him to be this year’s guest of honor in its prestigious night honoring the year’s outstanding Filipino sports men and women.

Even as a multi-disciplined sportsman and business leader, Romero says he had to think hard whether to oblige to the invitation, which was usually reserved for a head of state or for that outstanding sports icon. Later told that the invitation was to signify the emergence of a “new breed of sports leadership,” Romero says he humbly accepted, as indeed, it was a recognition of the brand he was imprinting to move Philippine sports to greater heights.

And yes, his style of meeting challenges upfront has yielded a set of sports achievements, which are, as a set, unrivaled. They set a class of their own.

Remarkably, Romero’s involvement in various sports disciplines covers basketball, track and field, Filipino martial arts, arnis, baseball, flag football, jetski, volleyball, shooting, and now polo.

Though his first love in high school was Filipino martial arts, being a third dan black belter, Romero’s new passion is polo, another field where he has brought prestige to the country.  His team won the United States Polo Association’s (USPA) Silver Cup and Central America Inter-Circuit Cup, both in 2012.  He has likewise won Polo tournaments all over Asia – from Thailand to Korea.

“I used to ride horses as young as three years old in Burnham Park, so I thought that it wouldn’t be that difficult,” says Romero.

Now, Romero sets up different polo cups in the country for the development of the sport. As of this writing, the first polo festival at the Alabang Country Club shaped up  with the holding of the AirAsia Crystal Polo Cup back to back with the Globalport Sultan Polo Cup.

Patron of Philippine basketball

Romero played varsity basketball  for De La Salle University. And for one who had to quit the league after an injury, the conferment of the DLSU’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports in 2007 many years later, manifests the pursuit of other sterling achievements as opportunities opened.

As a young businessman leading the Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc, Romero formed the  Harbour Centre team and broke all the records in the amateur ranks in the last 50 years by winning 7-straight Philippine Basketball League (PBL) championships from 2005-2009. The four-peat moment came via an amazing win, even as the team was down 11 points in the last 60 seconds, and down by five in the last 15 seconds.

Beyond the local scene, Romero is also active in the Southeast Asian region. He helped create the first Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) professional basketball league, known as the ASEAN Basketball League or ABL. He was a major force in the victories of the Philippine National Basketball Team in 2007, one in the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) and another, in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) championship.The tags as the “Godfather of Philippine Amateur Basketball” by the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) in 2007 and 2008 came soon after.

Pursuing a burning goal, he recently bought a franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and built the Globalport Batang Pier with the  MMDA or the power cast of Willie”Thriller” Miller, Sol “SolTrain” Mercado, Gary “El Granada” David and Japeth Aguilar.   As owner, Romero is involved with the team’s training, player rotations, and player recruitment. “I’m more meticulous about the training the players get, I want them to train in the best way possible,” he adds.

“Being a sportsman is not just about playing the game, it is also about managing the players, setting up the organization, and running the team overall,” he states.

One would tend to think that all these engagements were enough to lock his schedule. But Romero, eager to further give his alma mater the winning edge, still finds time as manager and godfather  of the now famous La Salle Lady Spikers, UAAP Season 75’s 3-peat volleyball champion team.

Shooting for the stars

Romero has also made a name in shooting. He was a Philippine National Open-Double Trap (shotgun division) bronze medalist in 2003 and represented the country in the Shotgun World Cups and World Championships in Australia and Italy.  Recently, he lobbied to bring a wildcard shooter to compete in the 2012 London Olympics—and won. He was last year’s delegation head of the Philippine National Team in the Olympics, a proud moment and a landmark event that serves to inspire him in the sporting world.

Romero was also the youngest national president of the Philippine National Shooting Association (PNSA). While at the helm, he was able to implement projects for the sport. “I worked towards developing the sport much better,” says Romero. His term ended on March 2, 2013. He was also youngest president of the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines (2009-2010).   He achieved another mark, as one of the pioneers of the Philippine Baseball Association, the country’s first ever professional league in this field where his Manila Sharks  already won 3-straight championships (2011-2012).

Passion for excellence

“Many people say I always want to get ahead of everybody, that I won’t allow that I’d be left behind,” shares Romero. “Part of it is true. I always believe that my team would win, and once I believe in it, often, it would happen. That somehow got me addicted to winning.”

As owner and manager of different sports teams, Romero  puts emphasis on the training the players get. “As I’ve mentioned, I’m very meticulous when it comes to training and preparation.” He adds, “Learning from mistakes, knowing the science of sports, all are part of the preparation.”

Romero recalls that in planning for the gold in the 2007 SEAG, he put up a team that’s not riddled with stars. “Each player I put in the team had a different role, and they knew it.”

“I researched about different basketball styles which I can use for the team,” adds Romero. “I found the Korean system of passing and shooting. And since I have a lot of shooters in the team, I thought it would be perfect.”

Romero also admits that he himself is training hard for the sport he plays, “I train a lot. I do my research on how to get the best training for the games I play.” For his polo stint, Romero said that he even trained outside the country to gain knowledge and experience in two years.

The sportsman maintains a healthy lifestyle. Romero jogs and does his workout regimen every morning and plays polo or basketball in the evening. He does his work in between working out and sports.

A competitive visionary

In business, Romero is as aggressive as he is in sports. He made his first P100 million before age 30, and his first P1 billion before age 40.  Now only at 41, he owns a billion-dollar (P 40B) market-capitalized and publicly-listed conglomerate Globalport 900 Inc. and a string of businesses that include the listed Pacifica Inc., and the AirAsia Philippines where he is executive committee chairman and board vice-chairman. AirAsia Philippines is in the wings of alliance building as it recently acquired 49 percent stake in Zest Air.

Romero’s port businesses under the Globalport 900 is similarly expanding, handling from only 50 vessels a year in 2003 to 10,000 vessels collectively in 2012, virtually helping grow the economy one port at a time.  In that fateful year of 2003, he turned around a losing port business that handled then a cargo volume of merely 100,000 tons.  Now he is operating a whopping 21-million-ton port business involving Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc., Manila North Harbour Port Inc., and newly-acquired Zamboanga City port.

To sum it up, Romero is the chairman of 10 companies, chairman and chief executive officer of three, and board vice chairman and executive committee chairman of another.  His businesses are diverse, from mining to underwater dredging to air transportation.

Romero’s life plainly showcases an extraordinarily competitive spirit, always trying to beat even his very own feat in pursuit of excellence.

He has a master’s degree in business management from the Asian Institute of Management and a doctorate of philosophy in political economics, and in management with Academic High Distinction and Thesis Gold Medal.

“I took MBA because I failed in one business.  Before I took MBA, I was actually weak in finance and math. I strove to be better. Then I taught finance.  That’s the humility that sports can teach you – how to accept your weaknesses and find ways to overcome them. I’m happy to be young since I can commit a mistake and bravely admit it, and still have the time to learn and remedy it.

“Wherever you put me, I’ll give it my best shot.  I tend to overachieve when I put my mind into it.  That’s because I have a road map, a plan. I tend to see what’s at the end of the tunnel and work my way to it. “

He says one of the many things I’ve learned from sports early in life is preparing for every game. 

“I’ve learned not to sit on my laurels.  As sportsmen, we are only as good as our last performance.  We have to keep on honing our skills.  Thus, I rely on my strength but spend the rest of my time overcoming weaknesses,” Romero explains. 

No wonder he has been receiving awards from various sectors and organizations.

Those recognitions include the 2012 Men Who Matter Award, 2010 Creative Young Entrepreneur Award, 2010 FINEX Presidential Award, 2009 Best Business Port, 2009 Hall of Fame Award as among Manila’s Best Dressed Men, 2008 Management Man of the Year, 2008 Young Leaders Award.

Firm principles, strong faith

Romero says he lives strongly by his principles, “If it feels bad, I won’t do it,”  he says.

Speaking  to the younger generation, Romero quips, “Dream big, then try to do it.” He wants the youth to shoot for the stars, whether in sports, business, or whatever interest, because you might just end up being there.”

Bringing his teenage son Miguel into the world of conquests, Romero, this year, entered the 2013 Philippine Koi Show, with a joint entry of a winning koi named “Magic Karp.”  Together, Romero bagged the third consecutive Philippine national title as Magic Karp was crowned Supreme Grand Champion.

Romero’s koi “High Note” was also a big winner in Japan. It also had a ‘three-peat’ on its own, winning the Kokugyo Award in 2007, the Sakura Award in 2008, and Best in Variety in 2009, all in the annual All-Japan World Koi Show. The Kokugyu Award was an international feat, as no other foreigner has bagged it outside of the Japanese in this highly traditional competition.

To Romero, sports can teach a person, particularly the youth, how to focus and have faith in pursuing a goal.

“As a young member of FINEX (Financial Executives of the Philippines) in 1998, I was asked to help put up a junior FINEX to bridge or eliminate the disconnect between the finance students and the business community.  At that time, the schools themselves had wide gaps or disparities in their finance curricula.  So I thought of organizing an inter-collegiate finance and economics competition. 

“However, my proposal was turned down outright by one of the powers-that-be, whom I heard calling me a ‘nut’ for such an ‘outrageous’ idea.  So I had to beg that it be given a chance to be tested.  On the first year, only 15 schools joined the competition, and on the second year, 16.

“But after 12 years, it is now the biggest event of FINEX, with 60 to 70 schools participating. Most importantly, what used to be wide gaps among the finance curricula of the schools have also narrowed tremendously to quite an insignificant degree.  That’s because the results of the yearly competitions serve as the common benchmark for all the schools to shape up and step up,” Romero narrates. 

This FINEX event is now being held at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and even supported by JP Morgan, a leading global financial services firm. 

Yet, even that FINEX achievement is being attributed by Romero to sports, saying that “friendly competitions can bring out the best” in everybody and “create a universal culture” of excellence.

 â€œThe culture of excellence involves honor, discipline and hard work.  I don’t smoke, drink, or gamble.  Instead, I train a lot -- morning and evening.  Preparation is intensive.  Mind game is strongly demanding,” Romero points out without any hesitation in including religion and spirituality in the subject.

“I pray a lot to win the game. We (Mikee and brother Nikki) have been raised by our mother in the ways of the faithful.  We were taught to pray and go to mass.  Every year possible, my wife Sheila and I bring our four kids on a pilgrimage to Rome,” Romero adds. 

In his companies,  there’s an event called  “MikRolympics”. From MikRolympics, Romero’s people learn to reconcile the paradoxes of excellence such as honor in victory and defeat, competitiveness via cooperativeness, labor-management partnership, and surpassing own individual records through collective effort or teamwork.

To Romero’s mind, sports and business share a common platform.  Both need to be structured, logistically supported, managed and nurtured for growth.

“Sports isn’t just a corporate social responsibility.  It’s every citizen’s duty to himself and his country because it develops the nation’s collective will to rise from its weaknesses. In fact, sports is an anti-poverty measure that builds the nation’s character for a shot at prosperity.

Thus, his advice for everybody:  “Shoot for the best.  Nothing is impossible.  You won’t know unless you do it.  Spare your mind of getting nagged by the question of ‘what if’ when success is simply the answer.”

Without batting an eyelash, he exudes only confidence when he says : “So in my speech at the PSA Awards Night on March 16, I will clamor for putting up a department of sports.  This will make the approach straightforward and nationalistic.” So, once again, Romero is shooting for the best.  After all, nothing is impossible, and the government won’t know the ace in the recommendation unless it does what he suggests.

And when it does, the new face of Philippine sports can be like the one you are reading about right now. A winner.