Once upon a time, there was a farmer who planted a mango tree. The seedling looked just like a small twig when it was planted; thus, to others, why bother?
At first, it was difficult to care for the tree, being so small and weak. But the farmer persisted in caring for the tree through tough times of scorching heat, and heavy wind, and rain. He even had to battle against the onslaught of pests that sought to destroy the tree.
The farmer was adamant this tree would survive, and provide in the future the sweet delicious fruit it was capable of bearing. Many times he could have given up. But no, not this farmer.
So the years went by, and the farmer knew that eventually, all this hard work would pay off someday. One day as the farmer drew near the tree, he saw it was now a much bigger and stronger mango tree. He was overcome with immense happiness as he saw the many flowers that he recognized would soon bear the delicious yellow fruit. He was so excited that he spread the great news to all he came into contact. Soon he would be rewarded. Well, maybe.
Not too long after, the flowers turned into small green mangoes. Day by day, the fruits grew bigger and bigger. Soon after, the fruits started to turn yellow, and he knew all his hard work was about to pay off.
One morning, he awoke with great expectation that this would be the day he would enjoy for the first time the delicious mouth-watering fruit of his labor. He quickly got dressed, and ran toward the mango tree.
As he approached the tree, his facial expression turned into bewilderment. Many people were scampering about the branches of the tree, grabbing as many mangoes as they could. He knew some of the people climbing his tree; he did not recognize the others. All were just thanking him “for being so generous”.
Broken hearted, he sat on a rock nearby. He bowed his head in grief.
How did this happen, one may ask? Events happened so fast that no one could explain in the frenzy.
The farmer returned home, never to approach the tree again. He gave up on his dream. He never got to taste the sweet delicious mangoes that he so worked hard for such a long a time.
Sad. Put yourself in the farmers position; how would you have felt?
Nice story, you may say, but what does this have to do with sports?
I have been coaching here in the Philippines for almost eight years now. As the Philippine Senate is trying to figure out what ails Philippine sports, they should start to analyze where most sport activities begin.
The answer being: the elementary and high school sport activities of the Department of Education.
There is a practice of substituting the coach of a successful athlete, with another coach. This is more apparent at the national level.
Also more common in the elementary and high school levels is the practice of determining who coaches in different levels of competition.
For example, Coach A has three athletes in a lower meet, and all three advance to the next higher meet. But Coach B had more athletes who also advanced, thus, Coach B is declared the “winning coach”. So Coach B now becomes the team coach.
And if one of Coach A’s athletes gets a medal, Coach B, as team coach, accompanies the athlete to the awards ceremony; no matter if Coach A is available.
Now let’s say Coach A had spent many years developing a particular athlete, having gone through years of frustration, encouragement, nurturing, training, and caring for this one athlete, what should be done?
Does this sound all-too familiar?
When I was coaching in the U.S., I followed my athletes as far as they advanced.
About six years ago, I had one athlete who made it through the district, provincial, regional, and the national Palaro. In a later meet, I met the so-called Regional coach who proclaimed he was the one coaching the athlete I had been coaching, even though he never coached this athlete even for one day. How absurd!
I talked to coaches and parents who agree that this practice needs to be changed. Some coaches just give up, rather than fight the bureaucracy. Why spend time when in the end, they know they may not bask in the moment of success with their athlete?
I know this is a simplified analysis of this subject but after 60 years of competing in the Palarong Pambansa as a coach, there really has not been a whole lot of success. Will change happen?
Next week, I will write about another area of concern in Philippine sports — the Filipino chess grandmaster, now ranked #2 in the whole word, who competes under the U.S. flag. How did that happen?
Be proud, Philippines, not only as a country but as Filipinos who are mightily proud of their country.
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Author’s email: HealthAssist@hotmail.com
