I HAVE no desire to join the crucifixion of Gilas Coach Chot Reyes because to my mind, he has suffered enough.
I am sure that after this year’s FIBA Games, Chot Reyes will become a different man, perhaps with a different job, and imbibed with a good learning experience.
Instead, I wish to discuss about the Pinoy and his love for basketball.
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There is no question about it, many Pinoys love basketball.
Back in the good ole days, this love for basketball provided the impetus for the game to blossom and catapulted many Pinoy cagers to international stardom. That time, many Pinoys gained international prestige because our players then were champion-material.
But not anymore.
We have been overtaken by many factors and our present crop of cagers is no longer dominant in the predominantly tall, agile, talented and muscular world of basketball.
Consider the following.
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We seldom produce tall, really tall, players who are exceptionally gifted to play basketball.
Yes, we have a lot of very active, maybe talented, but short players. By short, I mean they are below 6’5”. Yes, they are talented but in the game of basketball, size really matters.
And if we have some really tall players, they are mostly slow, cannot shoot or dribble, or hardly that kind of player who can pose serious challenge to their foreign counterparts.
This was amply illustrated when the Gilas players played with the players of other teams.
Sa barag pa lang, pildi na.
Tungod kay mubo, sayon rang payongan sa mga kontra, impas patatas na dayon.
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Why are we not producing tall, talented and skilled players?
There’s plenty of reasons.
One is nutrition. Our staple are foods that are rich in carbohydrates, not protein-rich. Hardly promotes growth. We have Pinoys who are born and raised in the US but surprisingly, grow tall, big and extremely agile. I would credit that to food and of course, proper training.
Locally-produced foods are also deficient in nutrition and ultra rich in sugar or salt or oil or anything chemical.
Two is genetics. Our forebears are known as short, squat and the like. Unless injected with foreign blood, seldom can we expect tall produce from squat sources.
And third is commercialization. Probably because of poverty, some really talented players usually decide to stop intensive training and opt for commercial basketball where they earn regular take home pay. Instead of really honing and enhancing their talent, most of our players would rather earn their pay, and spending their prime years making money rather than honing on their skills.
And fourth is of course lack of support from the government. Instead of investing in developing human skills and talents and really and actually promoting sports development, many of our leaders are inclined to develop projects that earn “komisyon” or “kikik.”
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For instance, there are local government units that regularly sponsor inter-barangay basketball tournament. At first glance, we can deduce their apparent interest in sports.
But on closer inspection, one can easily suspect other ulterior motives.
Pamolitika for one. Remember that the players and the audience are all voters. A smart politician who has deep pockets can easily sponsor fancy uniforms for a winning team that display their names.
Aside from the display of names for name-recall, the players, their families and their close friends also provide a multiplier effect for a vote-gathering mechanism because they would feel beholden to the generosity of the politiko and reciprocate the gesture by campaigning for him.
Some LGUs also provide huge prizes for the winners. So instead of harnessing the skills of all the players, the team would only field their best players. Daghan ang ma-bangko.
And because of the huge prize, the teams would also opt to “import” outsiders just to ensure a good chance at winning, leaving the local talents sidelined or benched for most of the time.
Aside from demoting, not promoting, the sports program, this is also one of the reasons for the lima-singko nga sumbagay during tournament tungod sa dako kaayo nga premyo.
Unsaon paglambo sa sports program kon mao ni ang patigayon?
