Chip off old blocks

It’s not widely known that newly-elected Philippine Swimming Inc. (PSI) president Michael (Miko) Vargas is PBA/ABAP chairman and former POC president Ricky Vargas’ son. And Vargas’ great-grandfather was Jorge Vargas, the first Filipino member of the IOC in 1936. That’s a three-generation step-ladder of sports leadership in the country’s service. The Vargas legacy is richly preserved in Philippine sports history with the impact that the first two patriarchs have made and now, it’s the next generation’s turn to enhance the family’s reputation.

From every indication, Vargas is a chip off the old blocks, meaning his great-grandfather and father. Vargas, 42, has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Ateneo and is doing post-graduate studies in Leadership at the University of Oxford Said Business School. His wife Marga is an accomplished newscaster and former PBA courtside reporter. Their daughter Julia, the oldest of three kids, was a UAAP courtside reporter the last two seasons. “We love sports not as athletes but as contributors and stakeholders,” said Vargas. “I’m not entirely new in sports advocacy. Our family starting from my great-grandfather and later, to my dad has been helping sports in every little way we can. I’ve been helping in ABAP as treasurer and PNVF as member of the Board. Now that I’ve been entrusted to be head of PSI or Philippine Aquatics, I plan to devote my full attention to its proper administration and development.”

Yesterday, PSI conducted a planning session among members of the Board of Trustees and key officers to flesh out in depth the NSA’s short, medium and long-term goals. “I don’t see anything as challenging but rather exciting and forward-looking,” said Vargas. “I’m new at heading an NSA so I’m not shy to admit that I will rely heavily on Cong. Eric Buhain as secretary-general. We have a great tandem and team behind us. Cong. Eric has personal experience and passion towards success of aquatics in the Philippines, not to mention an athlete and Olympian himself. I appointed some notable members of the community, including Chito Rivera as interim executive director.”

Vargas said he considers his fresh outlook an advantage. “I can say I have fresh and unbiased eyes which I see as an advantage but this doesn’t mean I’m not aware of the issues that plague our aquatics community,” he said. “The goal is to unite. Grassroots development is key and we want to make aquatics more accessible to all and inclusive. I use ‘aquatics’ more than ‘swimming’ as our NSA’s responsibility is not only swimming but also water polo, synchronized swimming, diving and open water long distance swimming which are all under World Aquatics or formerly FINA. One initial goal is to change our NSA name from PSI to contain Philippine Aquatics to be in line with the international federation.”

Vargas said what’s peculiar about swimming is most athletes are introduced to the sport at an early age by their parents who invest in learn-to-swim programs. “Our goal is to make it more accessible and less commercialized and we do this by coordinating with local governments for access to LGU-owned swimming facilities,” he noted. “We can also make it more accessible and inclusive in a way by decentralizing the activities. To specify, inclusivity is to include public schools to run public learn-to-swim classes, empowerment of different regions through duly-elected representatives to run their programs and identify talent. We minimize the need to travel to imperial Manila to get to perform and record their times through official events. We do this by letting the regions run their own regional events without much control or dictatorship from us but rather, we monitor and guide them. Also we can do this with technology which through a meet manager software where they can record their lap times and officially submit online to us so we can monitor. This has already been developed and given for free by Cong. Eric and executive director Chito to the different regional reps.”

Vargas said the support of POC and PSC is critical. “In just close to a month of being in office, I can say POC and PSC have been very supportive,” he said. “The stabilization committee of POC as assigned by World Aquatics has been in close coordination with us to guide and turn over duties and responsibilities in running our NSA.”