IT ISN�T far-fetched to be able to get 70 gold medals,� Philippine Sports Commission chairman Ritchie Garcia said on Nov. 8, two days before the Southeast Asian Games.
Aside from pinning his hopes on billiards, basketball, boxing, wushu, athletics, softball and baseball, Garcia also said, �I�m also expecting some sports to pull off some surprises in the SEA Games so getting 70 gold medals will not be hard to achieve.�
Aside from softball, which delivered with a sweep of the golds, and the 4-3-5 haul of the taekwondo team, we fell short in the other sports.
And as of yesterday morning? Two days before the 26th SEA Games was to end in Indonesia, the Philippines had 24 gold medals�twenty-freakin�-four�42 silvers and 60 bronzes.
I think Chairman Garcia should have said 70 medals, not 70 gold medals because we are nowhere near getting 70 gold medals unless finding excuses suddenly becomes a SEA Games sport.
And, just like what we�ve done since Sydney 2000, after every major sporting event�Olympics, Asiad and SEA Games�there will be calls for an overhaul of the country�s sports system.
Calls that often get ignored or labeled as unnecessary.
And as if on cue, as I was writing this, I read a tweet from a national columnist, �With looming disaster in SEA Games, athletes shouldn�t be blamed for dismal showing but which sports officials will take responsibility and resign?�
Sure, a first-place finish was next to impossible since this is the SEA Games, and a host, if it fights for it enough, can even make counting sheep a medal event.
But I thought Garcia�s target was �achievable� since this is the SEA Games, the �lowest-level� sporting meet that we join.
Do our expectations no longer reflect the reality of Philippine sports?
Can we not compete in the Southeast Asian level anymore?
This sixth-place finish stinks. We trail fifth place Singapore by 15 gold medals, while we are better than the bottom five Laos (8-6-33), Myanmar (7-19-26), Cambodia (3-11-20), Timor Leste (1-1-4), Brunei (0-2-7).
What happened? Is it the training? The selection process?
What can be done?
Can we do better? Definitely!
I hope aside from calling for the heads of the NSAs, the PSC and POC will also look at the Philippine National Games for a solution.
The PNG holds promise, especially when the PSC decided to require the national teams to compete because that�s how some new members of the national teams were discovered.
But instead of making it annual, why not make it biennial and hold it a year before the SEA Games? And require each LGU that wants to participate to hold its own local qualifiers�you know, make them spend their sports development fund on something aside from putting the mayors� faces on basketball boards.
By requiring local qualifiers, the PNG becomes the showcase of the best-of-the best of Pinoy sports and by holding it a year before the SEAG, we have a year to make potential members of the team SEAG-ready.
Or we could continue to keep doing the things we are doing and end up getting disappointed again in the next SEA Games.
With yet another debacle, I don�t think we should call for top-to-bottom reforms. We can�t even have a complete overhaul of one national sports association without going to court, how much more reforming the whole landscape.
But thinking out-of-the box could help.
And I think, boosting the PNG and boosting sports at the local level is one.
But, that�s just me.
And I think winning 24 gold medals in the next SEA Games isn�t a far-fetched target.
Aside from pinning his hopes on billiards, basketball, boxing, wushu, athletics, softball and baseball, Garcia also said, �I�m also expecting some sports to pull off some surprises in the SEA Games so getting 70 gold medals will not be hard to achieve.�
Aside from softball, which delivered with a sweep of the golds, and the 4-3-5 haul of the taekwondo team, we fell short in the other sports.
And as of yesterday morning? Two days before the 26th SEA Games was to end in Indonesia, the Philippines had 24 gold medals�twenty-freakin�-four�42 silvers and 60 bronzes.
I think Chairman Garcia should have said 70 medals, not 70 gold medals because we are nowhere near getting 70 gold medals unless finding excuses suddenly becomes a SEA Games sport.
And, just like what we�ve done since Sydney 2000, after every major sporting event�Olympics, Asiad and SEA Games�there will be calls for an overhaul of the country�s sports system.
Calls that often get ignored or labeled as unnecessary.
And as if on cue, as I was writing this, I read a tweet from a national columnist, �With looming disaster in SEA Games, athletes shouldn�t be blamed for dismal showing but which sports officials will take responsibility and resign?�
Sure, a first-place finish was next to impossible since this is the SEA Games, and a host, if it fights for it enough, can even make counting sheep a medal event.
But I thought Garcia�s target was �achievable� since this is the SEA Games, the �lowest-level� sporting meet that we join.
Do our expectations no longer reflect the reality of Philippine sports?
Can we not compete in the Southeast Asian level anymore?
This sixth-place finish stinks. We trail fifth place Singapore by 15 gold medals, while we are better than the bottom five Laos (8-6-33), Myanmar (7-19-26), Cambodia (3-11-20), Timor Leste (1-1-4), Brunei (0-2-7).
What happened? Is it the training? The selection process?
What can be done?
Can we do better? Definitely!
I hope aside from calling for the heads of the NSAs, the PSC and POC will also look at the Philippine National Games for a solution.
The PNG holds promise, especially when the PSC decided to require the national teams to compete because that�s how some new members of the national teams were discovered.
But instead of making it annual, why not make it biennial and hold it a year before the SEA Games? And require each LGU that wants to participate to hold its own local qualifiers�you know, make them spend their sports development fund on something aside from putting the mayors� faces on basketball boards.
By requiring local qualifiers, the PNG becomes the showcase of the best-of-the best of Pinoy sports and by holding it a year before the SEAG, we have a year to make potential members of the team SEAG-ready.
Or we could continue to keep doing the things we are doing and end up getting disappointed again in the next SEA Games.
With yet another debacle, I don�t think we should call for top-to-bottom reforms. We can�t even have a complete overhaul of one national sports association without going to court, how much more reforming the whole landscape.
But thinking out-of-the box could help.
And I think, boosting the PNG and boosting sports at the local level is one.
But, that�s just me.
And I think winning 24 gold medals in the next SEA Games isn�t a far-fetched target.
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