By Atty. Farah G. Decano

 

THE Philippines has been winning a few medals from individual sports category since the beginning of modern Olympics in 1896:  boxing, athletics and now, weightlifting. We still have yet to witness a Filipino sports team bag a medal.

Commenting on Filipino athletes in general, a former undersecretary from Mindanao remarked that Filipinos are not really used to participating in team sports.  They tend to excel in sports as individuals because, on their own they can better hone their skills sans the intrigues, the stealing of thunders and the proverbial, amor propio.  The sexist but more popular term for the latter is “pataasan ng ihi.”

Is it true that Filipino athletes are better off as singular rather than team players?  Don’t we hear of “buwaya” players in basketball and the “pasikat” in other team competitions?  Maybe the comment of the undersecretary rings some truth to it.  This individualistic focus is not a quality exclusive to sports.  This also applies to our manner of education from elementary to college.  The school system tends to concentrate on individual performances, examinations and grades.  Hence, millions of Filipinos have been trained from childhood to look after the survival and development of the self only.  It is, therefore, not surprising to hear some political analysts say that we lack the concept of a nation.  If the members of a population are coached for decades to care only for themselves, without thinking of the betterment of others in society then lack of cohesion and cooperation amongst them is a foreseeable consequence.

This instructional method, however, is now being revised in some schools in order to emphasize team performances.  Students are now being prepared to look after  each other in order to get better evaluation from teachers.  I am glad that students in these schools are educated that their survival and development entail the cooperation of  their classmates.

I am not suggesting, however, that Filipino athletes are bad in team sports because of our individualistic culture in our schools.  I’d rather say that we don’t excel in group competitions simply because we lack available proper trainings and resources that foster team skills and members’ cooperation and connection.

Lack of funds. There goes the cat out of the bag.  Excelling in Olympics team sports requires more extensive program for the players.  It is cheaper to train individual players than an athletic group.   We did not win a single medal for this group category for the simple reason that we did not register any team.  All of the 19 Filipino athletes participating in the 2020 Tokyo games are individual sports players.

With the win of Hidilyn Diaz and Nesthy Petecio, we saw an avalanche of private resources pouring in order to rewards the Olympic medalists. Maybe, if these winners would donate portions of their incentives, or if these companies would donate to the country’s sports development which donation may be tax deductible, then maybe they’d be able to enhance the plight of our athletics programs.

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