WITH the 2015 Special Olympics underway in Los Angeles this weekend, 35 athletes representing the Philippines are ready to compete in the games.
“Prepared naman ang mga bata ko. Handa na sila. For the gold nga kami (My athletes are prepared. They’re ready. We’re going for the gold),” said Abner Recacho, head coach of the Philippines’ unified football team.
Since arriving in Southern California on Tuesday, July 21, the Philippine delegation has been hosted by the City of Santa Clarita.
“We’re exhausted, we haven’t really recovered from the flight and all that, but it’s OK,” said Kaye Samson, assistant head of delegation, on Thursday, July 23, during a party held in Newhall for Special Olympics athletes. “Our athletes are OK, they’re smiling, nobody’s getting sick. Just to see them very happy is all that matters.”
Team Philippines
The Philippine delegation, composed of 50 individuals, has 35 athletes competing in the games that will take place throughout the last week of July. Accompanying the competitors are 10 coaches, three assistant staff, Samson and Delia Ortega, head of delegation.
Philippine athletes represent various areas in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, including: National Capital Region (Metro Manila), Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Mandaue and La Union.
Among athletes is Mark Moran, 24, who is competing in unified football and said he is “masaya (happy)” to be competing in the event this year.
The Philippine team is participating in seven categories: powerlifting, rhythmic gymnastics, unified football, bowling, badminton, athletics (track & field) and aquatics. Samson noted that this year, two of the 35 Philippine athletes are without intellectual disabilities. The two are “unified partners” and are on the unified football team.
Christian Doroin, an athletics coach who has been active with the Philippine Special Olympics team for more than 15 years, said most of the athletes participating have previously competed in local games and have been with the team for a decade or so.
“In general, we send our very best athletes as much as we can. So these are the guys that have been training for years. Most of [them] … have been here with us since they were really young,” he said.
Samson added that most of the athletes come from lower income backgrounds and that, for most, arriving in Southern California marks their first time in the United States.
Training for the games
Since athletes come from various regions of the Philippines, the team mainly trained for the Special Olympics individually.
Doroin said the schools the athletes attend typically provide training, and the coaches would sometimes receive videos of them so they could see how they were doing. He added that the athletics team only practiced together twice.
For the unified football team, Recacho said training was completed in a four-month period and that he was able to meet with the team every two weeks in La Union. In preparation for the games, Recacho had drilled his athletes on defense and incorporated regiments that included running and passing.
Getting to America
Making it possible for Philippine athletes to compete abroad for the Special Olympics always involves reaching out for sponsorships to help with the cost of uniforms and flying to the country hosting the games.
“Special Olympics in the Philippines is not very popular at all, and we’re actually perhaps even more popular in other countries than in our own country because we don’t get a lot of support. [We] can’t get a lot of sponsors because there’s no exposure,” Doroin said.
Typically, chapter heads are given the task of looking for sponsorships. Among the country’s biggest sponsors this year have been local government units (LGU) and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC). The LGU of La Union, for instance, sponsored five athletes, two coaches and one assistant staff; PSC sponsored the tickets of eight other delegates, Samson said.
For the unified football team, two athletes were sponsored by Herbalife, Recacho said.
The team has also fundraised for its uniforms, Samson said.
Outlook for Special Olympics
Various Philippine delegates expressed differing outcomes of the games.
Moran said he has no expectations but said he is “excited” to be participating in unified football.
Samson said the athletes simply want to win, are confident and aren’t thinking about their opponents.
For the unified football head coach, he said he feels like the team will be able to advance to subsequent rounds but that any result will be OK as long as they’re able to take home medals.
And for the most part, Samson noted that nobody on the Philippine team has gone home without a medal.
But more than anything, the most important thing is that the team enjoys itself.
“Ang event na ‘to, ‘di naman kailangan palaging manalo, basta mag-enjoy ang mga bata (With this event, it’s not necessary to always win, as long as the athletes have a good time),” Recacho said.
