Jeremy Go: A man of gold

It is every athletes dream to represent their country, and when given the chance, they want to perform at their best.

But heart and desire can only take you so far, the athlete will need the proper training, nutrition, and overall program to maximize his potential.

All of which costs money. Philippine sports has always been in need of supporters for our athletes, so Go for Gold has been a real blessing.

It helps that behind a company is an athlete that knows and understands the plight of the men and women in our local sports scene, and that gentleman from Go for Gold is Jeremy Go.

Philippine STAR: Why did you and your company decide to sponsor Philippine sports?

Jeremy Go: This all really started when I got involved with triathlon. During the course of competing and training, I got to meet Coach Melvin and John Chicano of the national triathlon team. Initially, it was just small support from my own pocket, but as we considered the program and potential of the athletes, we decided that its best to go “all in” and fund a proper training and racing program and that’s basically where this all started.

How were you able to choose which sports to support?

Normally, the athletes, coaches or sports leaders come to us and we review their requests and see how we can help. As much as we would like to help everyone, there is a finite amount for funding and we would like to see that it is used in the best way.

 Why cycling and triathlon?

Cycling and Triathlon are close to my heart because I engage in these sports, so I got to know the athletes and after seeing their passion and hard work, I really wanted to be able to help them.

 Wrestling?

The Philippines has had a history of wrestling success. We haven’t been able to show it because there haven’t been a lot of competitions where our wrestlers could compete. But I have seen them train and compete, I believe we will be able to surprise people in the upcoming SEA Games. Sports with weight classes are something we can do well at, like boxing.

And skateboarding?

One, I believe our athletes, especially Margie Didal, can go a very long way in this sport. Maybe all the way to an Olympic Gold Medal.

And two, I believe skateboarding is a great sport to encourage our youth. It’s not so expensive and can be done almost anywhere. We hope that our athletes can serve as role models to keep Filipino kids in sports and out of trouble.

 You also support sepak takraw...

Karen Caballero of the Sepak Takraw Association has been a long time friend of mine. She presented their team results and additional needs and we are happy to support them. For 2019, we would like to grow this by also supporting the first amateur sepak takraw league in the Philippines which is being spearheaded by their association.

Dragon boat is also on your list...

Its actually a sport I dabbled in a few years ago, so I was familiar with it and with the results of our national team. During one of the PSC events, I was introduced to Jonie Go, who was sending a team to their world championships, but she needed additional funding. It actually happened very quickly, but I am happy to say that it had a good result with 5 Gold Medals in a World Championship event.

Basketball had to be a no-brainer, right?

Basketball as you know is probably the #1 sport in the country. We are believe that the growth of sports is not only in having quality athletes, but also quality events. So we are happy to support the MPBL of Sen Manny Pacquaio as this gives opportunities to upcoming basketball players to showcase their talent.

What would be the ultimate achievement you are setting for the athletes you are supporting?

For us the ultimate achievement in sports would be a world championship or an Olympic Gold Medal.

However, aside from sports achievements, we would like our athletes to become upstanding members of their community.  Its not enough to be a good sports person, but you need to be a good person. We encourage them to be role models, especially for the youth in their and we support and encourage our retired athletes to form local grass roots teams in their provinces so we can keep kids in sports.

Has your support for Philippine sports helped your brand?

I believe that we are a bit unique in that we created a brand specifically to help sports which is Go For Gold. We wanted to do this so that anyone who wants to support our teams has an easy way to do it, which is by buying these Go For Gold tickets.

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