Charting the future of PHL sports

JUST a few weeks ago, Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said he will bat for a Philippine Sports Institute.

And like his good friend Digong, the chairman sure acts fast. He’s not only after the pa-pogi points in press releases and interviews.

On Sept. 1 and 2, the PSC will gather the who’s who in the Philippines’ sports landscape to create the master plan for Philippine sports and to set-up the Philippine Sports Institute. And, because he’s a probinsyano who also gets riled up when Manila-based groups gather for a “Philippine meeting” kuno, this meeting isn’t only limited to sports officials in the capital.

Ed Hayco and Michel Lhuillier are invited, representing the Cebu City and Cebu Province sports commissions respectively, along with the representative of the Cesafi and Dacs, a Davao-based school league.

Of course, sportswriters from Cebu and Davao will also be covering the event because another PSC commissioner, Charles Maxey is a former sportswriter based in Davao who knows the feeling of being left out when the former admin did things like these.

It’s becoming cliché, but change, indeed has come to PHL sports. (As a point of comparison, the LVPI, which calls itself the national sports association for volleyball in the country, doesn’t have a presence outside Manila.)

So what will happen in this high-level summit that will also have the sports committee from the senate and the house of representatives? We really can’t tell what will happen but we can only hope.

We hope that after years of paying lip service to grassroots sports and to support of the national teams, the leaders in PHL sports will finally do what they say. After years of infighting in the NSAs or of years of leaders making do with the usual practices, they will try to innovate. Change. Change the people in the NSAs if needed.

Mapping the future of Philippine sports will include people in authority stepping down; that’s a reality that some try to deny and I hope the participants in the summit will have that in mind.

That it is the future of Philippine sports that is being tackled, not their role or place in the future of PHL sports.

We have NSA officials who think their departure from office will lead to the downfall of the sport because they value themselves too highly; not knowing that it is their presence itself that is stopping the growth of their sport.

I hope on Sept. 1 and 2, the right steps will be made.