Richie Garcia: NSAs lack experts for grassroots program
MANILA, Philippines—Some national sports associations are in no position to conduct a grassroots program that will tap future stars in the countryside due to lack of qualified personnel in areas outside of key cities and the National Capital Region.
The Philippine Sports Commission released this overall assessment of the 2011 Batang Pinoy Games, which featured 15 disciplines mostly Olympic sports.
PSC chair Richie Garcia declined to divulge the NSAs but expressed disappointment on their inability to establish a grassroots program reaching the countryside due to a lack of manpower.
“We noticed that there are some NSAs which don’t have any program in the provinces at all. They cannot identify and develop talents because they simply don’t have (enough qualified) people in the field,” said Garcia.
The Batang Pinoy held its national finals in Naga City two weeks ago after gathering the gold and silver medalists from the five regional qualifying legs in Zamboanga (Mindanao), Dumaguete (Visayas), Baguio (Northern-Central Luzon), Marikina City (NCR) and Sta. Cruz, Laguna (Southern Luzon).
The events contested by youngsters 15 years old and below were track and field, swimming, archery, arnis, badminton, basketball, boxing, chess, gymnastics, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, wrestling and weightlifting.
“Finding talents from different schools in Metro Manila is not enough. The NSAs have to search for future stars in the countryside,” said Garcia.
Aside from centerpiece athletics and swimming, Garcia said boxing and taekwondo drew the largest turnout from 90 local government units during the finals and the qualifying legs.
“Our grassroots programs will be growing bigger and bigger every year. It’s a long-term plan and more funds will be allocated to these programs,” said Garcia, referring to the Batang Pinoy and Philippine National Games.
The PSC has been pushing for a younger wave of athletes to keep the stream of available talents flowing.
Led by an aging group of athletes, the country finished a record low sixth overall in the Southeast Asian Games last November with a gold-silver-bronze haul of 36-56-77, the worst output since it joined the biennial meet in 1977.
