Being out there: Flashback 2014

The New Year brings another renewed sense of hope, albeit an artificial one with the flipping of the last page of 2014’s calendar. We face the same systemic problems in sports that we have for decades now, much of what this writer has experienced in the last 30 years. Sadly, the answer for the future is not to be found in the Philippines. It is so clear that the feudal type of leadership in many sports is a throwback to archaic systems harking back from the post-war era, and will not change in the near future. It’s almost enough to make athletes in general choose to live overseas for their own good.

There have been many bright spots in Philippine sports, but we need to know the backstory to see the sad side of this success, also for us to appreciate the gleaming sunrise of hope for the big picture to change. Of course, the most recent example is the rise of Kobe Paras, who will, if all things fall into place after his senior year in high school, become only the second homegrown Filipino to play in a US NCAA Division 1 program in over half a century next to Japeth Aguilar. But of course, his current success is only the fruit of years of support from his father, two-time PBA Most Valuable Player Benjie, who has been getting Kobe and his older brother Andre personalized training since they were small children. Though genetics played a big factor in Kobe’s being scouted, his desire and early start were also major contributors.

It is a great act of courage for a young person to be out there and do whatever it takes to be among the best in his or her chosen field. Another example of recent hope for our next generation of sportsmen is Michael Christian Martinez, who broke through in skating in the Winter Olympics. Again, it was an underdog story of fighting the system’s flaws and inadequacies to reach highest level of international competition. But that, again, is only half the story.

Would there have been any outrage if the public had remembered that Martinez wouldn’t have been alone had Melissa Bulanhagui, the national seniors women’s champion of the Philippine Skating Union, not had a run-in with the national sports association prior the qualifiers for Sochi? The national junior skater was selected over Bulanhagui to participate in European qualifiers for Sochi as per the Union’s judgment. Prior to moving to the Philippines in 2011, Bulanhagui was one of the top junior skaters in the US before deciding she would have better chances at making the Winter Games in her motherland instead of the more prohibitively competitive Team USA. For this, though, she had to give up everything, including a lucrative sponsorship contract and financial support.

“I came here from Team USA to compete as a Filipino national, hoping to prove that I was the best in the country and I did that twice,” Bulanhagui told this writer in 2013. “I have so much love for the sport but if they can do it to me, the more they can do it to the kids who spent so much time and effort.”

While some athletes are satisfied with being the best in their country or in Southeast Asia, others aren’t until they know for certain where they stand in their sport’s hierarchy in the entire world. Being out there, to at least measure yourself against ultimate competition is the true test of a great athlete, this is why it warmed the hearts of millions of Filipinos to see Gilas Pilipinas captain Jimmy Alapag honored in FIBA World Cup publicity and merchandising, even after the breakthrough event. Who would have imagined that, in the age of six-foot-six guards, a five-foot-eight Filipino would figuratively stand shoulder to shoulder with the most recognizable faces from the NBA and European basketball? And yet, it showed what can be done.

But whether you look at the glass as half full or half-empty, you will decide whether it also showed what is possible or what could have been done better. Many sports are making inroads to the world stage, but we can no longer claim to be doing all that we can when we are not allocating the resources to back up the athletes, or are holding others back. The analogy I’ve often used is tying one’s hand behind his back, performing a miracle by winning initially, then expecting to do it every day. We can no longer disguise the fact that there are some events our athletes are not really prepared for.

This is why seeing the consistent excellence of athletes like Donnie Nietes is quite refreshing. Like Wladimir Kilitschko at the opposite end of the weighing scale, Nietes has dominated his sport at his weight for years, and officially broke Flash Elorde’s record as the longest-reigning Filipino world boxing champion with the coming of 2015. There will still be distinctions between the two, since Elorde, who was honored with having his name on the Orient-Pacific Boxing Federation’s perpetual trophy for Boxer of the Year in 1989, was king of one division and Nietes moved up in weight. Still, Nietes has handled himself with the same the quiet, humble, businesslike manner that he has through the years. The only problem is that he fights in a weight class that doesn’t get much press, and he isn’t flashy or arrogant. But maybe that’s why we should value him more.

But Nietes has fought all of the best his weight classes have had to offer, and anywhere his profession has taken him. He has beaten opponents on mountaintops in Mexico, as the first boxing card in the history of the Mall of Asia Arena, and of course, in the ALA stable’s bailiwick of Cebu. He has been out there, fearlessly taking on all comers, and winning.

Paras, Martinez, Alapag and Nietes are not just the best of Philippine sports of 2014, with Manny Pacquiao a close honorable mention. They prove what we have known all along: you have to go where the action is. We cannot coddle or protect our athletes from fighting the best. We no longer respect paper champions. We are so painfully, globally aware. That is what it takes to be the world’s best. Nowadays, when you say best local athlete, you are really talking about Filipinos who have broken the walls and stepped onto the world stage, period. That is the new barometer for the Filipino athlete, and some people may not like it.

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This writer will be on DZMM Fastbreak at 3 pm. this Saturday. Follow this writer on Twitter @truebillvelasco.