Marketing Philippine Sports by Strengthening the Government Consistency on Support andMarketing Philippine Sports by Strengthening the Government Consistency on Support and

PrioritizationPrioritization

Patricia Nicole B. Hizon & Krizha Mae M. PrudenciadoPatricia Nicole B. Hizon & Krizha Mae M. PrudenciadoSan Beda College ManilaSan Beda College Manila

AAthletes, the most competitive people in the land, are ones who are trained to compete in

sports which requires strength and physical skill. Stated earlier may be the essential requisite in order to be an athlete, in addition to that you must also possess mental ability and a heart with a passion in order to win. Winning means you are satisfied that you gave all your best to the game, awards are just a bonus. However, unlike in any ordinary game, your goal is just to enjoy and love the game but going out to represent an institution or the state possess another goal and standard. Athlete-representatives, of course, want to bring honor to their institution or country by bringing home the bacon.

Here is the problem. For example, imagine

what it feels like playing the sport you love

while carrying the name of your school, you'll

feel the pride at the same time the pressure.

In addition to that, imagine playing for the

school getting no support at all. Training with

yourself, not getting enough benefits, paying

for your own training, travel and necessity

expenses during games. Self-support feels

like no one cares at all that you are playing

for them. This is the reality in Philippine

sports: The Filipinos bear the passion and

the talent, the thing that fails us miserably is

nothing but the government. According to

Coach Noel Santos of the Philippine

gymnastics team, the reason behind the

country's lack of Olympic success is never a

question of talent, but the insufficient and

mismanaged funding by the government. By

means of insufficient and mismanaged fund,

our Filipino athletes lack equipment, facilities,

training, benefits and most of all,

appreciation, exposure and the ability to be

internationally competitive.

There are so many children with potential

talents wandering around the land of the

Philippines however they lack attention,

financial ability and government support.

Senator Pia Cayetano, a sports advocate,

once said “I believe that if we truly prioritize

sports many will be veered away from drugs,

many will finish college.” Our objective is to

meet the needs of our athletes who has given

us their outmost effort in representing our

country.

Together with the proper allocation and

distribution of funds, the researchers believe

that we must promote the grassroots

Gutierrez, Natashya. (2012). The problem with Philippine sports. Retrieved from http://www.rappler.com/sports/10591-the-problem-with-philippine-sportsLok, Niko. (2009). The Forgotten Filipino Athete. The Guidon. Complativo, C., Panaligan M.G., (2014). Pennies for Gold: An investigative study on government support to national athletes under the Philippine Sports Comission.

approach wherein children with potentials will

be groomed from childhood to adulthood,

consistently. Through grassroots approach,

there will be two benefits: this will produce

the best and competitive athletes; and these

potential athletes will replace retiring national

athletes. However, how can aspiring and

potential athletes train if there is no enough

facilities, so we decided to include in our

program to extend Olympic standard facilities

throughout the country. We also wanted to

propose benefits throughout the grooming

stage of the athletes like proper recognition

and stable financial support not just for

trainings but also for their family. Why include

financial support for the families? According

to The Guidon (2009), the official student

publication of Ateneo de Manila University,

athlete representatives for Olympic games

save their government-funded allowance by

spending on cup noodles, processed foods,

and the like in order to provide bigger amount

for their families back home while in fact they

should be eating balanced diet as they are

athletes. Through these programs and its

implementation we can increase the

percentage of Olympics participants and

produce globally competitive Atletang

Pilipino. However, consistency and proper

funding is much needed in order to produce

positive outcome. This plan will target

athletes, consumer as its counterpart, to

create interest and satisfy their needs to the

sports program of our company in

strengthening the Philippine sports.

We believe that the lack of government

support is the main cause of the problem. To

support this hypothesis, a Rappler article

says the only president who has given much

attention on sports is Fidel V. Ramos wherein

he promote sports program and even signed

a law regarding Physial, Fitness and Sports

Development Council. The results of his

emphasis on sports was shown in the

Philippine team's results at international

competitions. In adition to that, the last

Olympic medal won by the Philippines was

during his administration. (Gutierrez, 2012)

According to the study made by UP

Journalism students Complativo and

Panaligan (2014), the declining performance

of national athletes can be attributed to the

dwindling government support in the form of

budget. From the failure to acquire enough

funds to the mismanagement of those

finances, the burden is placed on the

shoulders of the athletes as the front liners in

competitions and the biggest stakeholders in

the Philippine sports.

Gutierrez, Natashya. (2012). The problem with Philippine sports. Retrieved from http://www.rappler.com/sports/10591-the-problem-with-philippine-sportsLok, Niko. (2009). The Forgotten Filipino Athete. The Guidon. Complativo, C., Panaligan M.G., (2014). Pennies for Gold: An investigative study on government support to national athletes under the Philippine Sports Comission.