By Kristel Satumbaga
Philippine Sports Commission chairman Butch Ramirez believes coaches’ education will play a more important role as the sporting world faces a “new normal” brought by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Ramirez said effective communication between coaches and athletes particularly on grassroots level is vital, especially that trainings will be resorted to online rather than face-to-face.
“Anecdotal coaching has no place here. Research and methodology should be more distinct especially with the new system of virtual presentation. Communication skills are also important,” he said.
Regional training will also be a new norm according to Ramirez, which proves to be challenging depending on the availability of equipment and the effectiveness of their online communication tools.
It will also be tough for various coaches.
Ramirez said they would formulate these new programs with the national sports association (NSA) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) as soon as possible.
“There will be a reboot of the whole sports framework,” he said.
Ramirez, however, is positive that Elite athletes can cope well in these changes due to their extensive training experience.
“Elite athletes can be independent in their training. Basically, they have years of exposures on sports engagements, as well as a wide experience on different coaches,” he said.
National athletes were also sent home to their provinces, resorting to their own training methods.
Some elite athletes, however, continue their personal training with their coaches like world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo in Japan and Olympian weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who was stranded in Malaysia.
Meantime, the PSC is also focused on keeping the national coaches’ mental health in check in dealing with the global health crisis by holding a free online seminar.
Organized by the Sports Psychology Unit, the seminar is aimed at educating the coach on how they would cope with the situation, as well as providing pointers on how to coordinate and communicate with their athletes during these trying times.
“This is the best platform for the PSC to make sure that our national team coaches and athletes are mentally healthy during these challenging days,” Ramirez said.
“I worry about athletes and coaches so I have been really pushing our medical team to actively monitor and assist them through the means that are available to us.”
The first series of the seminar was held last weekend co-anchored by Dr. Cely Magpantay and Dr. Rodel Canlas. It was livestreamed on Facebook.
