Ramirez tells NSA heads to put best foot forward

There is no denying that Team Philippines has dipped in terms of performance in the Southeast Asian Games.

Chef de mission and Philippine Sports Commission Chair Butch Ramirez on Wednesday rallied the leaders of national sports associations (NSAs) to churn out a much better output especially now that the country will play host to the Games.

“We want to become champions and we want to succeed in the SEA Games, but it’s easier said than done. I am expecting full cooperation from the NSAs,” Ramirez said during the consultative meeting with representatives of all NSAs who will participate in the biennial meet.

The downtrend is glaring. From overall champions during the 2005 Manila hosting, the performance of Filipino athletes plunged to sixth in 2007 Thailand, improved to fifth in 2009 Laos and went back to sixth in 2011 Indonesia.

Team Philippines sank to seventh in 2013 Myamnar, a historical low for the country, and failed to do better than sixth both in 2015 Singapore and 2017 Malaysia.

The training and competition venues of some sports became a thorny issue after officials from skateboarding complained about the specifications of the skatepark being put up in Tagaytay.

Monty Mendigoria, president of the Skateboarding and Roller Sports Association of the Philippines, said they were not consulted on the detailed plan of the skate park.