Winning at WINS
LAST week, the Australian Embassy in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, conducted the Women in News were ladies from the media, both Cup Opening Day.
Most striking part of the workshop landscape of women in sports and in sports journalism. In the afternoon, Commissioner), and of course our very own Olympic medalist, Hidilyn Diaz to share with us their stories and experiences in the area.
At the end of that day, I learned one of the reasons why the Philippines couldn’t perform to their potential in competition; our country has the smallest national budget for sports, at least in Southeast Asia. Results from their study back in 2015 showed that allocated for sports as compared to our neighboring countries: Thailand million, and Indonesia $206 million. It still impresses me however that despite this, we still manage to bag a few medals in international competitions. are. Just imagine how much better our performance would be if there was an improvement with budget allocation and sports development! All the participants had agreed that that we should work with what we have but we need to keep pursuing for what is right!
There were also some areas that I wasn’t familiar with since I am a rookie when it comes to sports journalism. I learned that in spite of being in the 21st century, there are still people who look down upon women, treating them as not only as objects but also as the inferior gender. There were some, I guess I could call them, “horror stories” in the workplace that some of my co-participants shared and I can’t help but also feel upset for the people—not just men, but also women who tolerate this kind of culture in the workspace. One of our mentors was Tracey Holmes from ABC News, and I could probably say this in behalf of everybody, that we were so impressed by her courage telling us her own experiences and we learned a ton on how to handle these kinds of situation. One of my close friends who was also at the workshop even joked that she would probably trim her hair if that helps her muster up Tracey’s work energy!
As a full-time athlete, the WINS Initiative was truly a rare kind of experience for me. It’s not everyday that I get to stay out of the volleyball court away and spend time with the people who - other level of respect for these women and I am grateful for learning to see the sport with different perspective.
When the event came to conclusion, I realized that I found a more solid purpose as a sports journalist. We all learned that the media plays to the people, and that it is truly responsible for the rise of sports here in the Philippines. Take for example year in the UAAP, in Season 71, volleyball was relatively a new sport that you could watch regularly on TV. Back then games were held at school gyms and the spectators are usually just the family members and friends of the was the year that volleyball brought its rising number of followers to bigger - in the Smart Araneta Coliseum and with at least 17,000 people during dreams did I imagine playing in a venue that housed Thrilla In Manila and tennis matches graced by Serena Williams. Without our stories told, I believe we wouldn’t be able to reach those heights.
With this in mind, I promised my events and initiatives that not a lot of people are familiar with!
It was a good week sharing stories, experiences and maybe some news during that week. I agree with one of the participants that it has been with women. As Ms. Kiram puts it, “Sports has a unifying factor,” and I am truly grateful that it gave me a week of WINS!