They left their prints, brother

Hardknocks 02-15-08



They left their prints, brother

Nelson Millar, Fortunato Tirona, Francis Silva, Cris Ramirez; foregone athletes of
Yesteryears who had bid adieu to this world, leaving a trial of years of legacy for their successors to emulate.

Their departure, suddenly, in most cases, took everyone by surprise. I started coaching judo in the mid 80s. In 1991, Judo for the Visually-Handicapped came into a reality. But my volunteer tasks were not limited to the blind athletes only. It was fun and extremely gratifying to get involved with the wheelchair athletes – basketball, racing, etc. The Philippines, despite meager allowances put their best performance to secure a respectable finish in the Far East Asia Pacific Games, or FESPIC, the Paralympics Games and the South East Asian competitions.

Except for a a few names, we could hardly show some truly remarkable performances, all because of funding resource availability.

The state of affairs in running the athletes with various disabilities are a way off from our Asean counterparts which subsidize training and continue to make attractive incentives for their athletes who continue to bring home medals and give honors to their country.

Such generous and wide funding latitude from government and the private sectors, give the basic considerations and reasons why foreign athletes have eclipsed our own performance level.

For all its worth, gallant figures, rich and mundane, grace the pages of Philippines broad sheets and tabloids, in their desire to emulate foreign counterparts – for whatever it takes, which mostly come from sheer exhilaration of competition.

The physically-challenged athletes and individuals amongst us continue to give inspirations to us, ironically, the physically gifted individuals who quite often refuse to recognize our own roles and responsibilities toward these handicapped brothers.


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