The future of Philippine sports

There has been much discussion about Filipino basketball players being recruited to play professionally in places like Japan, Korea and Taiwan. When you think about it, Filipino athletes are now belatedly joining the OFW wave. One of the first recorded mass exoduses took place after World War II. American women, having tasted financial independence by being in the workforce while men were off fighting, refused to return to more mundane jobs. The US still had a huge need for nurses and the like. They tapped a huge reservoir of skilled labor in the Philippines. Another big wave took place in the 1980’s, a few years before the dramatic change of government brought about by the EDSA uprising. In the last 40-plus years, children of those migrations have come back and contributed to Philippine sports, most notably in basketball. But the reverse has not been true, until now.

While Filipino coaches have been spending time working overseas for decades, it’s only been in recent years that Filipino athletes have made the bold move to uproot to better their careers. Previously, they would travel for short periods only to train and/or compete. In 2006, footballer Friday Camaclang signed with Brighton and Hove Women’s Football Club of the FA Women’s National League in Europe, becoming the first Philippine athlete in her sport to do so. Since then, the University of the Philippines graduate has made a new life for herself overseas, settling in the United States. At roughly the same time, 6’4” former UAAP Junior Mythical Team member Maui Villanueva of UPIS was recruited by the basketball team of Higashiyama High School in Japan. Former President Corazon Aquino even visited him at the campus there in 2007.

A couple of years later, Japan also started hiring Filipino rugby players, mostly those of mixed heritage. Many have been unable to play for the national team Volcanoes as a result. Since 2021, Japan has likewise been actively seeking out Filipino talent. Previously, local ballers would play as imports in places like Indonesia and Hong Kong, but only for short periods. Some female athletes meet their future spouses while out of the country, and live overseas not for sport, but to raise a family.

The reason for the transfers is simple. You have to go where the best possible training and competition are. For example, theater actors dream of playing on Broadway or the West End. But you can’t do that if you don’t live in New York or London. You have to take your chances and make yourself more proficient in your craft. After that, you humble yourself and take your chances in open auditions. Luckily, in sport, it’s usually a little different; many Filipino basketball players get scouted from overseas.

Is this a bad sign? On the contrary, it’s a very good sign.  First, it means that Filipino athletes (in this case, basketball players) are now recognized for their great skill and high standard of play. Secondly, it means that there is enough talent to go around. In the last year, more than a dozen young basketball players have left the country to play abroad, but local leagues still have a surplus of talent.

What will the future look like? Many of those OFW athletes will return to the Philippines, save for those who grew up abroad. But some will stay on, find other teams to play for, maximize their earning capacity. A few may even become citizens, coach or otherwise live there permanently. It’s already happened to some athletes in individual sports like billiards and ice skating. And it’s happened to tens of millions of Filipinos in other professions already.