Sport in the Philippines

Sport has been a part of Philippine culture since the late 19th century. Early observers noted however, Filipinos generally take a passive approach to competition. Three and a half centuries of oppressive colonial rule, yearly natural disasters plus prevailing socio-economic issues are blamed for the sorry state of Philippine sport.

Politics, red tape, and crab mentality between key sporting bodies, the government and the national sporting associations impedes the smoother development of Filipino world-class athletes. Lack of leadership and vision compounds the critical lack of innovative training methods, state-of-the art facilities and modern equipment needed to develop Filipino athlete potential to reach and maintain competitive Olympic and Paralympic levels.

These have hindered the growth of elite level and regular sport, despite accolades in the early second half of the 20th century. The Philippines back then, produced world-class talent in baseball, boxing, football/soccer, basketball, track and field, and swimming.

There currently exists an disparity in Philippine sports. On one end is the majority of the populace whose sport exposure is limited to what can be afforded on limited income and time. On the other end, a minority whose sport exposure parallels that of the developed world, where active involvement is conducted using expensive sport equipment and played within an equally limited society of peers. Such a situation subsequently limits growing new talent from the mass base.

Some sports have therefore flourished more than others, but by no means indicate the sports Filipinos enjoy today. One only need visit the country, immerse and involve oneself in sport opportunities across the islands.

With the Filipino love for radio/TV entertainment and gadgets, the speed of technological growth, the internet, affordable personal tech video services on equally affordable cellphones have exposed the nation to world culture.

Income from the Filipino overseas workforce feeds the imaginations of family (still living in the country), opening minds to tantalizing glimpses of the world's leisure sports, fads, trends aside from Hollywood films. Filipinos have started tuning into the world, getting more involved in sport. Some are in part, striving to mimic their sport heroes.

Pick a Sport

There are five major team sports in the Philippines that are quite popular to differing degrees. Baseball, softball, football/soccer, basketball, and volleyball are generally among those sports Filipinos have embraced. Boxing, golf, tennis, badminton, biking/cycling are among the more prevalent individual pursuits. Despite being a tropical country, ice skating is a rather prominent sport in the Philippines, which many do for fun, and yet others do seriously--the Philippines, in fact, has topped many Asian ice skating competitions over skaters from Hong Kong and the United States. [Citation
url=http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view_article.php?article_id=82109
title=RP skaters vow to soar in Skate Asia 2007
author=Tarra Quismundo
date=August 12, 2007
publisher=Philippine Daily Inquirer
accessdate=2008-08-31] Running, weight/power-lifting, aerobics, and the martial arts of karate-do and tae-kwon-do are likewise popular endeavors especially among the health conscious. On the water front, swimming continues to be popular, while scuba/underwater diving, kayaking, sailing, and body/wind surfing have also found their niche. On another front cockfighting, horse racing, auto/cart/drag/motor racing, and jai-alai also have a big following.

A good trend to watch is the growth of outdoor, extreme, and endurance sports which is gradually gaining acceptance across the islands especially among the younger generation and the environmentally conscious nature-lovers. Among these are in-line/roller skating, in-line hockey, kite/wake boarding, kite/ski surfing, rock-climbing/scrambling, mountaineering,and frisbee.

port for the Disabled

Access to sport for the disabled is hampered by poverty, ignorance, lack of awareness, lack of accessible sport facilities and nonexistent or incomplete implementation of the rights of the disabled in the Philippines.

The disabled Filipinos who do take up sport discover this is a way to regain self confidence, hope and maintain fitness. Most civilian disabled athletes are those who have had access to supportive personnel or have encountered PHILSPADA athletes. The Philippine Sports Association of Differently Abled is the umbrella organization for Philippine disabled sport likewise official National Paralympic Committee of the Philippines, affiliated with the International Paralympic Committee. PHILSPADA works with the IBSA, the Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, equivalent organizations and national sport associations to train and send qualified disabled Filipino athletes to the ASEAN ParaGames, the Paralympics and all accredited local and international disabled sport events.

Although the Philippine disabled sport contingents are so much smaller and less funded by the government, Filipino disabled athletes have been bringing in more medals than their able-bodied counterparts in equivalent international games. This is not because sports for the disabled is made easier but because of the will and ability of the athlete to excel. Recently PSC announced that medal winning disabled athletes will also receive exactly the same cash award sport incentives as the able-bodied SEAGAMES medal winners, etc have been receiving, in line with [http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7277.htm Republic Act 7277] – the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons.

In the recent January 2008 4th ASEAN Paragames in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, the Philippines fielded athletes with cerebral palsy to compete in boccia for the first time. Likewise the Philippine Disabled Shooting Team (with Philippine National Shooting Association support) competed in the ParaGames in the Air Rifle and Air Pistol events.

This year, Adeline Dumapong, wheelchair user with polio, bemedalled athlete and Paralympian powerlifter (Bronze, 2000 Sydney Paralympics) plus the 2-person Philippine Disabled Sailing Team, Team Sailability Philippines (with the Philippine Sailing Association support), have qualified for and will compete in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Boxing and Martial Arts

* Boxing
* Pekiti Tirsia Kali
* Eskrima
* Mano Mano
* Bull Fighting
* Arnis
* Karate

Outdoor

* Caving
* Cycling
* Marathon
* Mountaineering
* Orienteering
* Filipino Cycling

Racquet sports

Sports where players use racquets to hit a ball or other object.
* Badminton
* Squash
* Table tennis
* Tennis
* Ping-Pong

kating

Sports in which skates or skateboards are used.
* Figure skating
* Inline hockey
* Inline skating
* Skateboarding

Target sports

Sports where the main objective is to hit a certain target.
* Archery
* Billiard Sports
** Billiards
** Pool
** Snooker
* Bowling
* Darts
* Golf
* Target Shooting
**Rifle Events
*** 10 m Air Rifle - only Standing. This is an Olympic event for both men and women.
*** 50 m Rifle (formerly "Free Rifle", "Standard Rifle" and "Sport Rifle") - in turn divided into Three positions and Prone. Both events are Olympic for men; the Three positions event is Olympic for women.
**Pistol Events
*** 10 m Air Pistol. This is an Olympic event for both men and women.
*** 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol. This is an Olympic men-only event.
*** 25 m Pistol (formerly "Sport Pistol"). This is an Olympic women-only event.
*** 25 m Center-Fire Pistol. This is a men-only event.
*** 25 m Standard Pistol. This is a men-only event.
*** 50 m Pistol (formerly "Free Pistol"). This is an Olympic men-only event.
** Shotgun events
*** Trap. This is an Olympic event for both men and women.
*** Double Trap. This is an Olympic event for men (and a former Olympic event for women).
*** Skeet. This is an Olympic event for both men and women.

Water

In water

*Snorkeling
*Swimming
*Water Polo

On water

*Bodyboarding
*Surfing
*Waterskiing
*Windsurfing

ailing and Paddling

*Dragon Boat Racing
*Hobie Racing
*Outrigger paraw racing
*Rafting
*Rowing
*Whitewater kayaking

Underwater

*Underwater hockey
*Scuba Diving

Air

*Ballooning
*Hang Gliding
*Parachuting
*Parasailing
*Skydiving
*Ultralight Flying

Extreme sports

* Adventure racing
* Bodyboarding
* Kneeboarding (surfsport)
* Kneeboarding (towsport)
* Kite Surfing
* Paragliding
* Rock climbing
* Wakeboarding
* Surfing
* Triathlon

Team sports

Sports that involve teams.
* Airsoft
* American Football
* Baseball
* Basketball
* Beach Volleyball
* Pelota
* Soccer
* Paintball
* Petanque
* Polo
* Roller Hockey
* Rugby League
* Rugby Union
* Sepak Takraw
* Softball
* Ultimate Frisbee
* Volleyball
* Water polo

ee also

*ISSF shooting events
*2005 Southeast Asian Games
*2005 ASEAN ParaGames

References

External links

* [http://www.philippineshotgun.com/ Philippine Shotgun - Skeet, Trap, Sporting Clays and Hunting]
* [http://www.psc.gov.ph/NSA.htm/ Philippine Sports Commission - National Sports Associations]
* [http://www.belleviewrock.com/ Philippines Diving]
* [http://www.ncda.gov.ph/index.php?id1=1 Philippine National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons]
* [http://www.sailing.org.ph/tlyc/ Taal Lake Yacht Club]
* [http://www.sailing.org.ph/psa.htm The Philippine Sailing Association]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070814025452/http://seagsailing2005.cjb.net/ 2005 Southeast Asian Games Sailing Event Website] (archive copy as of August 14 2007)
* [http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?MenuID=t09mGN`wzzCp20/HuCVrCBO43?HJUg/NHk6QAAKYQGt`HafcoQ1NvaW6S1xy/ International Association For Disabled Sailing]
* [http://www.titansbaseballclub.org Titans Baseball Club - Philippines]
* [http://www.bilyar.net Philippine Billiards Community]
* [http://www.baseballphilippines.com Baseball Philippines]
* [http://www.philippineultimate.org Philippine Ultimate Association]
* [http://www.pinoymtbiker.org Philippines Mountain Biking Community]