Jojo Posadas, who helped mold a number of the country’s top track and field stars past and present, including the legendary Elma Muros, on Sunday made a heartfelt plea on behalf of all coaches in Team Philippines: “Please don’t forget us national coaches.”
Drowned in the hysteria of the country’s Southeast Asian Games victory, Posadas asked President Duterte and top sports officials to also recognize the efforts of the coaches who were behind the winning athletes—who got a lot in terms of extra windfall.
Posadas claims that they practically churn out the same amount of work, and were not rewarded.
“We also spend precious time away from our families, and sacrifice to give honor to the country in the field of sports,” said Posadas, who is married to the 18-time SEA Games champion Muros.
Now working as husband and wife team, Jojo and Elma handle several members of the national team aside from tending to a grassroots program through their stints with Jose Rizal University.
“Sometimes, the coaches aren’t even mentioned. When our athletes win, nobody remembers us. But if they lose, we are to blame,” Posadas added.
The SEA Games medalists received additional cash incentives from the Chief Executive amounting to P250,000 for gold, P150,000 for silver and P100,000 for bronze.
The Philippine Olympic Committee also gave away additional P200,000 per gold medalist in individual sports, and P50,000-P70,000 per gold medalist in team sports, which was on top on top of the incentives they got from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) as mandated by law, which is P300,000 for gold, P150,000 for silver and P60,000 for bronze.
Coaches like Posadas got nothing outside of the required 50 percent equivalent of what the athletes got from the PSC. INQ