US consultant: PH athletics needs more women power

PHILIPPINE track and field needs more women athletes to step up in future competitions to boost the country’s stock in the sport, according to American consultant Wilfred “Bill” Schnier.

Of the 46 gold medals staked in the sport in the recent 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, 23 of them were disputed in women’s events where the country prevailed in just one.

Filipino-American Kayla Richardson ruled the 100-meter dash.

“We certainly need to have more women because they count in the medals just the same as the men,” said Schnier, who was hired by the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association to assess the federation’s programs.

There were 12 women tracksters in the 36-member PH athletics delegation in the Games.

While the 17-year-old Richardson won in the sport’s showpiece event, the four other golds came from thrower Caleb Stuart (hammer), Eric Cray (100m and 400m hurdles) and Christopher Ulboc (3,000m steeplechase).

“It’s been my experience that teams that do best have the most athletes, so we have to get them from the little children going up,” said Schnier, a University of Cincinnati coach who is credited for producing 2008 Beijing Olympic 110m hurdles silver medalist David Payne.

“The grassroots level, training program and coaching also need to be addressed. We only have one female coach in Lerma (Baluitan).”

He said there’s also a pressing need to train more male and female tracksters in long-distance events. There were no Filipino entries in the men’s and women’s 5,000m, 20K walk, and men’s 10,000m in the SEA Games.