Bong Coo looks to beef up roster of female national coaches

FILE–PSC Commissioner Bong Coo. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

The difference in numbers is quite stark: Of the 300 national coaches from nearly 60 sports, only 14 percent are female.

Commissioner Olivia “Bong” Coo, the officer in charge of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), wants to change that—for good reason.

“If you’re a female athlete, it’s [easier] to relate to a female coach,” Coo said on Sunday. “I suggest that every time the women’s team plays in an international meet, there should be a female coach in the delegation.’’

Over the past two years, women athletes have been shouldering the heavier load—some, quite literally—in providing glorious sporting moments for the country in the international arena.

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz carved her place in history by winning the Philippines’ first Olympic gold medal when she topped her weight class in the Tokyo Games last year. Nesthy Petecio is the first female boxer to clinch a medal in the Olympics after grabbing a silver also in Tokyo. And Junna Tsukii became a world champion following her victory in the karate competitions of the 2022 World Games in Alabama, United States.

Team Philippines banked on women for more than half of its 52 gold medals in the last Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.

“I hope by the time my term ends six years from now, there will be an equal number of women coaches with our male counterparts,’’ said Coo.

The plan won’t be an easy one to pull off. Coo is piecing together a summit that will train more female coaches to reach the national level so they can be part of the national team and help female athletes perform even better.

“We better start now because it’s a long process,’’ added Coo, a four-time world bowling champion.

And there’s so much more hope from the women athletes in the future.

Kayla Sanchez will be looking to bring swimming medals to the Philippines this time. —AFP

The national women’s football team will make a trailblazing appearance in the sport’s grandest stage, the World Cup, next year. Young athletes like tennis star Alex Eala and Asian weightlifting princess Vanessa Sarno are on the rise. And the Philippines will have swimmer Kayla Sanchez, an Olympic medalist for Canada who recently switched national federations to represent the country. Sanchez captured a silver and bronze in the recent Olympics for Canada.

Coo said the PSC would bring in international coaches to help facilitate seminars and certification programs for women.