Terminating the presence of young athletes in combat sports will greatly diminish the steady stream of medals and global accolades that Team Philippines can claim in top-caliber foreign competitions.
Several national sports associations (NSAs) from contact sports came up with a position paper on Monday against the filing of House Bill No. 1526, which seeks to prohibit minors from engaging in competitive full-contact sports.
“Our elite athletes come from the grassroots development of sports. They start participating from a young age with appropriate rankings, training and competitions to join,’’ the joint position paper of 13 NSAs led by arnis chief Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said.
“Taking away this vital part of their athletic development is commensurate to dismantling a bridge that takes a person from one place to the next,’’ added the group, which includes signatories from NSAs in boxing, taekwondo, karate, muay and kickboxing.
The adherents of the position paper explained that the country’s sports foundation is hinged on a solid grassroots program that supplies athletes to the elite level where they begin to reap medals in international meets.
“It (grassroots) feeds into the elite level of sports and cannot start in an athlete’s late teens. They need to develop skills, muscle memory and absorb stock knowledge in their formative years,’’ said the group supported by associations from wrestling, wushu, judo, pencak silat, jiujitsu and sambo.
“Early sport participation is a worldwide practice, and we would be fatuous to discredit this,’’ it added.
An Act Banning Minors from Full-Contact Competitive Sports, HB 1526 was filed by Ako Bicol representatives Alfredo Garbin Jr. and Elizaldy Co and will have its first reading of the bill on Wednesday at the House Committee on Youth and Sports Development.
Acknowledging the importance, benefits and values derived from participating in martial arts, the authors of the bill believe in the paramount need to protect minors.
Calls to ban combat sports among minors initially came when 16-year-old Jonas Garcia, a fourth-year high school student from Bulacan, died after days in a coma following his boxing bout in Central Luzon Regional Athletic Association back in 2013. INQ