Starting them young

Lydia Ko is only 15 years old and three months, but she already has a Canadian Women’s Open title under her belt.

The top amateur coasted to an amazing victory in the event making her the youngest-ever winner in the LPGA.

The winners seem to be getting much younger including in the Philippines where among the country’s top pros is 17-year-old Miguel Tabuena and he has a couple of titles in the Philippine Tour not just runner-up finishes.

Several years back, there were already young stars shooting up to fame. These days, more and more youngsters are making a big name for themselves.

The reason of course is the fact that they have started very young and they have very supportive, maybe sometimes overzealous, parents, who poured their resources, talent, time, and energy to oversee the development of their children as athletes.

We definitely would be seeing a lot more very young players winning in the various professional golf events and in other sporting venues. What is also equally important is that in the drive for glory, the parents and the coaches of these young athletes would also instill in them the right attitude towards life and the fame and fortune that have come their way.

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Senator Antonio Trillanes IV wants Philippine Olympic Committee President Jose ‘Peping’ Cojuangco removed from his post because of the country’s poor performance in the recent London Olympics.

From what little I know, the Olympic committee should be free from any government influence, but of course it helps that the current POC chief is an uncle of President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III.

If the good senator wants Cojuangco replaced, lambasting him in the halls of the senate is not the right venue. He has to work with the presidents of other national sports associations (NSAs) to do that.

Senator Sonny has aired some of his proposals to help uplift the standard of Philippine sports, but while many new ideas look good, the problem is that our country seems to change it programs each time we elect new leaders.

We once had a program called the Gintong Alay that proved to have worked in terms of winning medals in international competitions. But when President Corazon Aquino took over from President Ferdinand Marcos, the Gintong Alay Program died.

We once had the Philippine Sports Talent Identification Program (PSTIP) initiated by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), but that too seems to have been forgotten with the changes in the leadership of the sports body.

Maybe, what we need is a law that would make it illegal for a new administration to end or change a program that is working just because it was started by the previous administration.

The problem with sports development is very complex. We ought to start addressing it, by accepting that politicians are bad for sports.

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MILESTONES: A very happy birthday to somebody who stood by my side in good and bad times, my best friend Christopher Rey M. Tio.

The same greetings go to others, who are celebrating today like Eulani Ocampo-Agloro and Rosa Harapan-Cabotaje.

Advance greetings to those celebrating tomorrow like Jose Ramon ‘Pitpit’ Mercado, Philip Magallanes, and my Tao brother Rodmil Sanchez.

More power to all of you!