Filipino pride goes wrong

THE

Philippines brought home a total of 21 medals from the recently concluded 18th Asian Games. Four gold medals were won by Filipina athletes.

Over the three- week event, one would almost always hear someone say “Pinoy Pride” or “Proud to be Filipino.” But do we really understand what it means to be proud Filipinos?

As a competing athlete, I find it strange how most of people are okay with mediocrity. Take sugarcoating losses for example. We are still happy and “proud” even if our team loses, al effort or worse, “not bad for someone playing against an Olympic team.”

This is where we should draw the line and see the fact that we’re participating in a high-level competition. This is where we misunderstand the true meaning of pride.

Not that I want us to sulk and mourn for every loss, but shouldn’t one refuse to lose and settle with it? If you put yourself in our athletes’ shoes, do you think you will feel good about losing and telling yourself, “Ah, it’s okay. Just the fact that I made it here is enough,” particularly when you know that you lacked in preparation?

Its pretty tough for make fans under — especially a high-level one. Anybody could play a sport but not everyone can be an athlete. As what my college coach told us before, fans will always be there in victory and only a couple will stay in defeat. Only the athletes could truly understand the reality of it all because they are the ones putting in the minutes, the hours, the blood, sweat and the tears into practice. And this doesn’t stop with physical preparation. Athletes also have to train mentally as most if not all sports require mental toughness.

I understand that it’s indeed impressive how our raw skills could keep up and that there is still so much untapped sports potential among Filipinos. But the big question is, what are we doing we do about it? Will we just belatedly prepare for tournaments like the Asiad or for next year’s SEA Games? I think Filipinos wouldn’t want the mediocre results born out of lack of preparation and politics.

I believe we’re caught up in a toxic cycle of becoming blind to what our athletes truly need and being contented with what they get. Our athletes are sadly treated like commodities, as if they’re owned by the coaches, the team or the company they play for.

They put so many smothering rules for athletes when in fact; they would have no jobs if not for the athletes. That is why I gained another level of respect for Ms. Hidilyn Diaz when she talked about training in dilapidated, decades-old gym with her fellow national athletes. Not a lot of Filipino athletes today would have the courage to speak up against such injustices.

The culture of “utang na loob” and resilience could work against us if people in power abuse them.

At least in the volleyball community, there are a lot of instances where foreign coaches and trainers wanted to help raise the level of the game. I believe we get a little too defensive and see this as an attack to our knowledge of the sport. I understand that we would want to have a home-grown roster of athletes, coaches included but this shouldn’t stop us from getting new perspectives from outsiders. If you were given a chance to train with coaches from one of the more successful teams in the world, wouldn’t you want to learn from them? See the way they understand the sport? And eventually have bigger and deeper personal understanding of your sport?

Its time that we learn. We could always pick up something from the previous Asiad — win or lose. Lets take this time to acknowledge our shortcomings and use it as a tool to be better. Next year we will be hosting the 30th SEA Games and this should be a good start toward excellence in Filipino sports. Mere participation is not enough – let’s aim to win!