Ethical practices in sports

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I had a glimpse of what was probably a practice that attended sports here when one morning, a former coach of our FU basketball team casually asked me to tell our Registrar to “fix” the grades of one of his players so that he could play in a forthcoming tournament.

Under my watch as head of the University of the Philippines sports program where UP became three-time general champion of the UAAP, no coach ever dared ask me what this coach so brazenly suggested.

I stood up, towered over him, and bellowed: “Get out of here!”

The coach explained that this is the practice in other institutions, hence, there was nothing wrong with it. I repeated my instruction, and that I never wanted to see him again. He was later was asked to resign.

Recently, our current basketball coach dropped seven senior players from the team for reasons he described as “skills never developed to higher level, not strong enough for university play, never became a team player,” and “worst influence on younger players, with a negative attitude, not willing to follow instructions, and primary cause of disorder in the team”.

These seven players met with the FU President asking to be reinstated, a request the President turned down because what they wanted was for the University to replace the coach so they could continue to play. Such gall being manifested by young athletes is unbelievable!

Thwarted, the most senior of the players began sending “hate” text messages to the coach: “you are ignorate (sic) and lier (sic), if you don’t want to play because your (sic) afraid say so.”

This act of discourtesy prompted the University to conduct an investigation which could result in the suspension or dismissal of the student.

Last Sunday, Nov. 27, another incident committed publicly at the Silliman Ballfield finally convinced Foundation University to launch a campaign to create awareness of the need for concerned authorities, specifically those directly involved in children and youth sports, to take action that will curb or minimize the acts of impunity being committed in sporting activities by sports events organizers, coaches, and players–a wrong flagrantly committed because those in authority fail to supervise the individuals they have assigned to do the tasks of sports organization and participation and the desire to win at all cost.

It was a joyful sight to behold, young children playing football in the Sandurot Cup, accompanied by parents and family members. I particularly enjoyed seeing fat and obese children chasing and kicking, albeit awkwardly, the ball and jumping up enthusiastically when a goal is made, wishing they would continue to participate to counteract the growing incidence of obesity among children.

During a lull in the games, the FU players were asked by members of an opposing team how they were faring, and when they said they have lost their two matches (actually, they have not lost any), their counterparts bragged that they have won all theirs. One FU player who was not allowed to play because he was over-aged asked one of the opposing players why he was playing when he was also over-aged.

That little boy’s question became the tipping point for FU to launch a campaign to reform sports in our UniTown.

In the book, The Joy and Sadness in Children’s Sports, author Rainer Martens quotes Louis Alley: “…sports should be thought of as a double-edged sword, capable of cutting in opposite directions. The direction the sword cuts depends on those who swing it, not on the sword itself.”

When FU founded the Institute of Youth Sports for Peace (IYSPeace), the vision was for it to act as a “swinger” of the double-edged sports sword. The direction of the swinging sword is aimed at promoting values enshrined in a “Sports Covenant” entered into by sports leaders and teachers in Negros Oriental on the inauguration of IYSPeace in 2007. The first of this covenant is for all participants in IYSPeace sports activities to refrain from acts that constitute cheating and violence.

Back to the Sunday incident. The over-aged boy admitted to his peers that, indeed, he was over-aged. An FU coach asked the two coaches of the opposing team why they fielded over-aged players. Both ignored him.

The teams from the same school of both coaches eventually played against each other, one team with over-aged players, and the other with players of the right age. The latter team prevailed.

Surprisingly, however, the coach of the latter team approached the curious FU coach, put an arm around the neck of the FU coach, and hit him on the temple. This he did in public. And the sad part is, the parents of the team with over-aged children joined in heckling of the FU coach.

Philippine sports is reportedly plagued with malpractices and undesirable conduct committed even the at the highest level of the sports hierarchy. Both the chair and president of the Philippine Olympic Committee are facing charges of malversation of public funds. The Palarong Pambansa held in Naga City in 2006 was fraught with cheating with regional delegations using players who were over-aged. The biggest Protestant university in the Philippines lost its membership in the NCAA after it was discovered it had over-aged players in its high school basketball team. And a reputedly world-class university in Manila was banned from the UAAP for one year after it was proven that two of its varsity basketball players submitted fake academic credentials, purportedly obtained with the assistance and connivance of its team manager.

The Sunday incident has encouraged FU, an institution that invests countless of manhours and millions of pesos to sustain its various sports activities, to protect its sports programs, particularly the “Children and Youth @ Play” undertaken in response to the Convention on the Rights of the Child mandating UN members to provide ample opportunities for children to engage in play and recreation.

President Mira D. Sinco has written the principal of the school which allowed the fielding of over-aged players in the Sandurot Cup that effective immediately, and for the rest of 2012, that school’s football team, the coach, and even the children concerned, are banned from participating in all FU-sponsored sports events.

The same letter has been likewise sent to the presidents of academic institutions in the University Town, seeking their support and participation in the campaign for everyone to observe ethical practices in sports.

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