Coaching the coach

It’s 2017, and the quality of sports in the Philippines keeps getting better. Athletes are getting stronger and quicker while some training programs have been introducing new concepts and techniques learned from other countries. One aspect that contributes to the development of sports that often gets overlooked is coaching. Coaches might not be the one sitting at the heart of the team but they’re definitely the ones that guide athletes not just toward the path of victory but also toward becoming better people in our society.

I believe that we can create better coaches if we understood what actually entails to become one. The most important asset that a coach must have is the knowledge of the sport of the athlete that he/she is coaching. Most of the coaches today were at one point in their lives, one of the best players in their field. Olsen Racela, one of the best point guards who ever played in the PBA is now coaching the FEU’s men’s basketball team. Eric Altamirano, on the other hand, was named MVP when he led the UP Fighting Maroons into a UAAP men’s basketball championship in 1986. He coached the NU Bulldogs toward their first championship in 2014.