The Missing Link March 2011 column of Buddy Resurreccion What’s this I hear the training pools are being emptied? I certainly wish this isn’t true. I hope I’m wrong. These training programs greatly enhance golf in our country. They are the breeding grounds from which we tap our golfing standouts to form the teams which represent us in international competitions like the World Amateur, the Putra Cup, the Asian Games and the SEA Games. It would then be a huge disappointment if suddenly we close down these training activities. Where will we get the amateur golfers who will play for the country? Who is going to train our up and coming talents? Where will they go? Lots of questions and, it appears, not so many answers are forthcoming. If this happens we go back to begging for funds from the Philippine Sports Commission and by default the NGAP will have to step in. But will they? I know Tommy Manotoc is in charge of the training right now and he has sterling qualifications to run any program. Aside from that he does have the credibility to bring in sponsors and patrons to support this undertaking. Maybe all is not lost. It’s really sad that we always end up this way. Another sponsor, another philanthropist who had the best intentions for Philippine golf has given up or is about to. But from the start I had already voiced out my misgivings about these directions. There is a bigger problem here that we can’t seem to come to terms with: Why does everybody seem to think that maintaining a training pool is the way to develop golf in our country? Training is an important aspect of development. Training is an integral part of sports development but it should NOT be considered as the be-all and end-all of development. In the first place by its nature training in golf focuses on the individual, the person, the player. Golf is not a team sport where teamwork is needed and team members’ movements or actions or roles need to be in synch. When you emphasize training in golf you concentrate on the individual and, more often than not, this is to the detriment of the big picture. There is a big picture we will always need to consider and the big picture requires that there is a development plan somewhere along the road and development in golf means a whole lot more than preparing players for international competitions. Golf development also means building a structure and system that provides opportunities to anyone who wants to excel as a golfer. I think that is the overlooked and forgotten word: opportunity. Underneath all of these concepts we throw around: unity of purpose, dedication, direction, teamwork, love of country lies what should be the real purpose of any development plan: to provide opportunities. When you provide opportunities for talents to prosper you make the individual players responsible for their development. You don’t spoon feed or treat them like babies. They have to strive and perform their best otherwise they don’t make the cut. More often than not we think that by providing a great training facility, a knowledgeable and experienced trainer, a charismatic coach that would be enough to call the effort development. It is not and it never will be. Development should be a continuing process. It involves identifying, recruiting, training, exposing and competing so things do not start and end with the athletes you have in your hands at the moment. Life goes on; athletes age so development should be more like setting up an assembly line rather than a painting a masterpiece. Again, what we have to do is to create opportunities. We need to build a system which will give our golfers a chance to grow and flourish from the time that they first come to grips with a golf club to the time when they are playing professionally. We need to have a road map that all young golfers can see and follow --- something that can give them goals and directions. At this point what we really lack is college golf. It is the missing link we need to bridge. We have had junior golf for some time now and professional golf has been revitalized. The problem is that after the junior golfers turn 18 they run out of opportunities. Where do they go? Well, we actually do not need to reinvent the wheel. Don’t you notice that our junior golfers strive so hard to get to play in the Junior World in San Diego? They do it because they want to be recognized and recruited by colleges and universities in the US and a lot of them really get recruited. Think Carito Villaroman, Ramon Bobbio and Mary Grace Estuesta. Why, in heavens name can’t we set up something like that here in our country? If we strengthen college golf there will be no need for training pools. If college golf is given the importance it deserves our top amateur players should have year round training and tournaments to keep them honed for international competitions. It will also give them an opportunity to earn a college degree. Let’s build a system that will create opportunities for our young golfers. Training pools are for a select few and, as we have seen, leave nothing substantial behind. Supporting college golf will create far greater opportunities for a whole lot more young Filipino golfing talents. “Ideas were not meant to travel on a one-way street.” – buddy_res@yahoo" buddy_res@yahoo
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 03:01:59 +0000
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