Juico out-maneuvers Joy and everyone

When I first learned of the conditions set by Patafa on Mary Joy Tabal’s return to the national team, my first thought was that Philip Ella Juico had maneuvered Tabal to a corner expertly and the latest twist showed that Juico may be a so-so NSA president, but he’s as politically savvy as they come.

Of course, only an idiot would think that the conditions set by Patafa were set by the committee. It had Juico’s signature written all over it, especially the one on the dropping of the complaint Joy supposedly filed but didn’t actually file.

The last I heard of the negotiations was that both camps were stuck on the conditions on training camp (Patafa wants Manila and Baguio) and on the complaint. But when Joy posted something about moving on in her Facebook page (I can add two and two together) I thought Patafa was going to have the last laugh.

And they will. Credit that to Juico’s political maneuvering as Patafa gleefully announced that Joy had agreed to all their conditions, including the dropping of the complaint that wasn’t a complaint. Why was Patafa so adamant on that condition? Because it wasn’t a complaint but a narrative of how Joy has been mistreated by the NSA since she first got the attention of the NSA. If you doubt the veracity of such, it included printouts of their text and e-mail exchanges.

So, what’s next for Joy? Well, it’s better if she keeps training abroad. As she posted, move on and concentrate on the task at hand. She is going to be the most-watched athlete in the track and field team owing to the circumstances of her getting back in the national team. It’s better for her to stay abroad so she would be free of the pressure. Anything less than the gold will now be viewed a failure.

And come the SEA Games, since she would be allowed to bring her staff, being paranoid about sabotage wouldn’t be a bad thing. Yes, that is how low I view Patafa that I think they are not beyond sabotaging their own athlete to prove a point.

What’s next for Patafa and the PSC? A ceasefire would be the best, I think, until after the SEA Games. Any infighting would affect all athletes.

But after the SEA Games, I hope the PSC takes a long look at the practices of the NSA; of allowing its coaches to be employed in private schools and of requiring players to transfer to Manila. Are coaches forcing athletes to transfer to Manila to be near the national team or are they doing it so they could join the schools they moonlight for and hence justify continued employment in such schools? PSC and Patafa pay them for recruiting athletes, the schools pay them for the same job.

As for Juico, well, congratulations; you won this round, sir. It’s totally naive to wish that you’d be astute in developing your grassroots program as you are in politically maneuvering to save your skin, but you’d never know.

Let this be a learning lesson for all. And oh, I hope you’ve learned your lesson. The whole Cebu community rallied behind Joy not because she asked to, but because we wanted to.