Leaving a legacy
“We are leaving a legacy for Philippine sports.”
These were the words of Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez during a press conference for the recently-concluded National Sports Planning Workshop participated in by the Department of Education and Philippine Sports Commission last November 6 and 7, 2018 at the Pinnacle Hotel and Suites in Davao City.
The pronouncement proves to be promising for the direction that the agency would like to navigate in the coming days and months ahead. Aside from the usual Sports for Peace Children’s Games and LGU Consultative Planning in the pipeline, this partnership with Deped is another milestone achievement initiated by the good chairman and his penchant for making small and concrete changes for sports. Advocating the value of a genuine grassroots sports development program, his passion and enthusiasm eventually rubbed off and got other government agencies involved in the idea, each of them willingly bringing in what they can offer to the table.
In this partnership, Deped teacher coaches will have the chance to enhance their coaching skills through the trainings and technical assistance provided by the PSC, to further impact student-athletes’ trainings. This partnership shows that government is willing to take their acts to the peripheries, utilizing sports as an integral vehicle in peace and community building reaching the margins while taking care of the nation. This is one tough task for any government agency, luckily, PSC and Deped are willing to take the route.
This is a definite “Win-Win” scenario for Philippine sports with student-athletes getting high level trainings from highly-trained coaches raising the bar of sports competence as early as the line meets of the Deped-organized sports events leading to the Palarong Pambansa. This also creates a strong and big pool of children, participating in sports events, preparing for their eventual qualifying as athletes of various national teams.
The agency has already been utilizing the Sports for Peace-Children’s Games with the Church and community, as an avenue in capitalizing for the future of the children. This new partnership with Deped creates another viable possibility in developing children though a sound sports program.
Getting their acts together sets a precedent for other agencies to emulate. If these government agencies are willing to share a dream and goal for the benefit of the Filipino children, what’s stopping LGUs and other government stakeholders from engaging and working together?
Now may be the time to look forward together, for the sake of the Filipino child. And as with any other endeavor, we can never go wrong when we invest in the children.