Filipinos future in global sports

There is a giant shift in education the world over, and sports is being swept up in the wave. Multinational corporations are taking a direct hand in shaping the students who will make up their management and workforce. And that trend has found its way to the Philippines.

In 1961, McDonald’s created what has become known internationally as Hamburger University in Illinois. There, those who foresaw a career in the fastfood chain train in preparing its trademark meals, learn the systems standardized by the chain worldwide, and prepare for future steps up the corporation’s ladder. Today, that concept has broadened to include technology companies, fuel companies, automotive manufacturers and many others. They simply have need of skills which are not taught in the traditional university set-up. That is why there are more than 4,000 corporate colleges around the world. And their graduates are expected to outnumber those of traditional schools within the next decade.

The main difference between corporate academies and regular colleges is that the former do not grant degrees or take four years to train students, and they can guarantee employment. Instead, they teach short specialized courses tailored to their myriad needs. Oil exploration companies, for example, will provide the means to learn how to drill for fossil fuels in the most extreme conditions. Basically, learning and development have become tools for competitive advantage. In the past, corporate headhunters would pluck the best and brightest IT grads, engineers and management trainees out of the best schools and then train them. Now, they’ve shortened the process by setting up their own schools.

In some countries in Asia, Europe and Latin America, even basic language skills and mathematics are part of the curriculum. This is similar in some ways to what the Technical Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is doing in the Philippines for overseas Filipino workers. TESDA incorporates computer literacy and even the language of the country where the student will work into the syllabus. On a higher level, pioneering companies in several fields also realize that they themselves are best equipped to teach the skills they will also need from workers and managers because they are the ones who have developed the trailblazing products and processes. It is simply the reality.

An accompanying trend is the paid internship, which is supplanting the traditional practice of taking one’s “practicum” as it is known in the Philippines. In highly competitive markets in the US – more obviously in the world of sports – parents pay not just for their children’s education, but also for their internships, often shelling out thousands of dollars for a one-week or two-week on-the-job training. In sports marketing and sports broadcasting, for example, tens of thousands of students would be fighting for only hundreds of jobs. Some companies have now been constructed to place students in internships for a hefty fee.

“In sports in the Philippines, we want to emphasize education, training and competition to make Filipinos more globally competitive, not just as athletes, but in whatever positions are open to them,” says Paul Moñozca, a Filipino who founded Spirit Sport University in Singapore and the US, and the Spirit Sports Hub being built on a 45-hectare property in Clark, Pampanga.

Moñozca, who originally hails from Bacolod, was a sports marketing practitioner who helped launch Gatorade in Asia before becoming an investment banker in Singapore. He has long dreamed of getting Filipinos onto the world stage in sports, and felt very strongly that they weren’t getting the appropriate education for it.

Four years ago, when the US economy dipped, Moñozca saw an opportunity to create a platform and pipeline for this purpose. He bought into the American Basketball Association (where he now sits as chairman), a stake in NASCAR, part of an environment-friendly Formula 3 circuit, part of a power boat league, and some high-profile golf tournaments. He is now using the corporate college concept to create internships for Filipinos, and has managed to keep the costs down.

“If you’re an auto mechanic and you want to get better, we can provide the opportunity for you to get an apprenticeship and learn from the best auto technicians in the world, and be part of a NASCAR or even a Formula racing team,” Moñozca says. “We aren’t just taking about athletes. There are many opportunities for our countrymen who have the passion and aptitude for it.”

So innovative was Spirit Sports University that the venerable Raffles Institute has partnered with Moñozca, and even has a lecture series on sports opportunities at their facility at Bonifacio Global City this month. Among some of the Spirit USA internship slots available are sports media, sports marketing, sports architecture, sports retail, sports engineering, sports hospitality and sports entrepreneurship. There are even courses in television production, public relations, new media, event management, sponsorship, licensing, brand management, master planning, facilities management, merchandising and channel development. How many of these courses are even available in the most prestigious universities in the Philippines? Perhaps one or two. And how many offer hands-on, real world experience? None.

Among the events being offered as part of their internship program in their Singapore program alone include the ABA World University Cup, NASCAR Electric Racing, the Caltex Celebrity Golf Classic, Manchester United Soccer School Games, the Asian Formula Powerboat Championship and the Singapore Collegiate Marathon. Interns will not be working in classrooms, but on-site, assisting in the planning and execution of these stellar competitions.

“It is our dream to have Filipinos break through in these various events, and we have positioned ourselves to equip them with the tools and skills they need to make it,” adds Moñozca. “We will do everything we can to make it a reality, and inspire the next generation of global Filipinos in sports.”