De Vega laments on the sorry state of Phil. sports
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 08 Jan 2011
"It's sad."
Former Asia's fastest woman Lydia de Vega-Mercado declared this yesterday in answer to the question as to why she has to work overseas to earn a living.
"Nakakalungkot talaga, but what can I do? Wala naman kaming lugar dito sa ating bansa. Besides, maganda ang offer na hindi matanggihan," De Vega-Mercado, who now works as teacher-coach in Singapore, said during Friday's SCOOP Sa Kamayan weekly session at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura.
"It's not only me naman. Isidro del Prado is now in Brunei. Like me he's coaching and teaching young, future young talents," she said during the forum, sponsored by Mang Inasal, TV-5 and FILA Sportswear. "Our other peers are all over the world. Ganyan naman talaga yata. Instead of us serving our own country dun kami sa ibang bansa."
"But it you ask me, malungkot talaga. Because dapat talaga patuloy naming mapaglingkuran ang ating bansa. But as I''ve said, feeling namin,there's no place for us here. Hindi kami kailangan dito," she lamented.
"But we also have to earn a living, especially now that we're already retired. We don't have pension to speak of to tide us up, so what can we do? Find some place where our service is needed. Natagpuan namin yun sa ibag bansa."
"Is she willing to coach here should she be given a chance?
"Of course, I worked nga as a consultant during our preparations noong 2005 Southeast Asian Games, di ba? Pero pagkatapos nating manalo ng overall championship, hindi na ni-renew contracts namin. Hindi lang naman ako. Madami kami di ba?" De Vega-Mercado, ?Diay? to the local and international sporting scene, recalled.
"Hindi lang naman suweldo ang importante eh. Noong consultant nga ako, magkano lang ba ang binibigay. But I accepted it, kasi para sa bayan," she said belying reports that she and her peers work overseas for pay. When my contract was not renew, tinanggap ko na offer. Actually noon pang early 2000 yung offer na yun tinanggap ko lang nang mawalan ako ng trabaho dito," she said.
Answering a question what she thinks is the reason why after hanging her running sneakers there has not been anyone discovered to replace her.
"There are a lot of reasons. First, we don't have any honest-to-goodness talent-search and development program. Pag wala nito, siyempre wala tayong athlete. Then wala din tayong facilities.Kung mayroon tayo nitong tatlong ito, next problem is funding," she said.
"Sa talent, napakarami natin. Facilities, halos wala. Rizal memorial lang at ULTRA ang oval natin na malapit-lapit sa international standard. Ang Rizal memorial, sinira pa to give way to a soccer field," Diay bewailed.
"When I say program, dapat tuloy-tuloy. May short term at dapat may long-term din. Hindi puwedeng huminto sa gitna. Sabi nga ng Tatay ko noong coach ko pa siya, kapag nagsimula kang tumakbo, say, 100 meters, tapusin mo. huwag kang hihinto in the last 20 meters," she said in reference to father-coach Francisco "Tatang" de Vega who died only recently.
"In other words, ang program natin dito, maski na sa ibang sports, ningas-kugon. Walang pinupuntahan. Puro simula, walang katapusan," Diay, who had gifted the country no less than 40 gold medals in international competitions, said.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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