PSC readies coaches’ program

Philippine Sports Commission Chair Butch Ramirez wasn’t impressed when he visited Cuba’s sports facilities several years back in a tour that he hoped could unlock the secrets of the Caribbean country’s success in the Olympics.

According to the PSC chief, Cuba didn’t have the best equipment available for their athletes and has a training center no better than what the Philippines has to offer.

So how come, Ramirez wondered, the Cubans have so far managed to win 78 Olympic gold medals?

“Cuba is not a rich country. But I found out that it has a sports institute where all their coaches graduated from before these coaches train their athletes,” Ramirez told the Inquirer.

With a similar concept in mind, Ramirez said the PSC’s Philippine Sports Institute would be sponsoring the first batch of 100 coaches from various sports who will receive international certificates in sports from the United States Sports Academy based in Alabama.

These 100 coaches, identified by the Department of Education from different regions in the country, will implement the curriculum set by the USSA and carry out the training of trainers.

The 100 participants will undergo a three-day lecture and a coaching clinic for another three days under the USSA and PSC starting Aug. 19 at the PSI building at Philsports in Pasig City.

“We need the help of DepEd and the LGUs and multiply ourselves in the regions. In two years, the core faculty will be around 300 trainers and coaches, all of them graduates of the PSC-USSA program,” said Dr. Serge Opena, the PSC’s national grassroots sports development consultant.