EDITORIAL: Why Athletics is Not Popular in the Philippines? ? Pinoy ...

EDITORIAL: Why Athletics is Not Popular in the Philippines?

Basketball, Boxing, Billiards, Volleyball, and Football. Expect those sports are the major content of sports pages among mainstream media outfits in the Philippines. As an Athletics enthusiast, I need to check different sources in order to check what is the latest news and information about Track and Field. Being one of the oldest sports in human history and the centerpiece event in the Olympic Games, we may wonder why Athletics is not popular in the Philippines.

Market-driven media hegemony

Media outfits in the likes of ABS-CBN, AKTV and GMA are only covering sports with enough mass appeal. Since they are private companies, they have one thing in their mind: Profit. They only air sports that get the most number of sponsors. Because of their influence among sporting fans, they confine the audience with limited choices and put other sports in the last line. Another theory is how Cultural hegemony of the United States affect our choice on what sport should we follow. Philippines become a basketball fanatic nation because the US introduced us to that sport. Since it the mainstream sports are the ones always seen in media, we can expect people will not be interested in watching or even trying sports like Athletics.

Of course media being also a source of entertainment will bank on sports with athletes with ?pleasing personality?. Having a media set-up which is entwined to entertainment industry, we see most of the athletes that mainstream follow suits to the standard of what is beautiful to a common Filipino: model material ?artistahin? etc. Since in Athletics, there is not much ?artistahin? we can expect private mainstream media not to bank after them unless they win a big competition overseas.

Compared with the set-up of media in other countries, state-run stations cover mostly big events with track and field as main preference. Japan has NHK, UK has BBC, and China has CCTV. If our government enable our state-run station, People?s Television Network to expand its capabilities and if possible beefed up with more funds, we may expect more coverage for track and field. Another example is how there is no live coverage for Palarong Pambansa even it is esteemed as the National games of the Philippines. Ironic isn?t it?

Another factor is that the current media set up lacks a true Athletics analyst. There are no Dyan Castillejo, Qunito Henson, Ronnie Nathanielsz and TJ Manotoc who can explain and analyze the sport to common people. I remember during the Sydney 2000 coverage of PTV, Mr. Freddie Abando become the athletics reporter even he is a news reporter. The mainstream media sports setup doesn?t breed new sportscasters who can be expert in Athletics.

No new sporting heroes

Although our current national athletes are winning in some events overseas, they still can?t equate the likes of Lydia De Vega, Elma Muros, Isidro del Prado etc. Because there are no athletes breaking through major athletics tournaments for the past 6-7 years, we can expect that people will not look much for them. Still our national athletes are doing their best, still we need a new talent to emerge and serve as the face of the sport to gain public attention.

Conservatism in the Athletics National Sport Association (NSA)

Compared with other Athletics Associations of most high performing countries, most of them had a true and working website where all news, events and records are disclosed to the public. With the popularity of social networking sites, we may think that Athletics in the Philippines may get popular and more transparent. Yet due to the inaccessibility of records in real time and the lack of a centralized resource hub for Athletics records and news, questions about the validity of records hound the NSA for PHI Athletics. If only the NSA will maximize the use of social media and have a true media bureau desk among their ranks, chances of informing people about athletics will be much better. Make the most out of everything.

Education of athletes and coaches should be done as well. It should not be only about doing academics but doing research to innovative ways in training and performance. UP CHK for example is doing different studies in relation with athletic training and yet only few collaborate to the college to consult their training methods if it is in synch with existing studies in Athletics. As we always said, those you learn during your athletic years are not the same on what should be done now. In common sense, experience is not always the gold standard; education, competence and track record should be.

To top all of this, the NSA should do something and convene all stakeholders in Philippine Athletics. There is should be no room for factionalism or secrecy among its ranks. Open records to anyone who want to check it out. It creates a room of trust and confidence especially among sponsors who want to help Philippine athletics. All sides must be heard and collective statement and actions must be raised. Unity among diversity is the key to success.

There are a lot of things to make Athletics a sport of choice among the Filipinos. We must think for the betterment of the nation because its citizens pay taxes to develop our sport. Innovation, transparency and continuous strive for excellence should be always the core values of any discipline. Trust builds confidence, confidence creates relationships, and relationships create new things. Should we begin now?

Editor?s note: We are open for any comments and reactions to this article. Let?s have a discussion. Email us at pinoyathletics@gmail.com

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Source: http://pinoyathletics.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/editorial-why-athletics-is-not-popular-in-the-philippines/

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