WITH FLYING COLORS: Bachmann gets high mark in 1st year in office

WITH FLYING COLORS: Bachmann gets high mark in 1st year in office | Daily Tribune

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) had gone through some changes more than a year since Richard “Dickie” Bachmann assumed the leadership position.

Bachmann said their collaboration and open communication lines with the Philippine National Anti-Doping Organization (Phinado) had been the biggest development under his administration that started upon his appointment as chairman in December of 2022.

The Philippines got a scare when it faced the threat of getting suspended from major international tournaments after its Phinado was not in compliance with the guidelines of the World Anti-Doping Organization.

But Bachmann and the PSC worked doubly hard to make sure that the guidelines of Phinado will be up to date with that of the Montreal-based anti-doping watchdog.

Bachmann said the incident had served as a lesson not only to them but to other government agencies as well.

“We’re going back and forth with the DBM (Department of Budget and Management). It has a lot of questions like how many tests a year,” Bachmann said.

“We’re also in the process of interviewing people for the plantilla positions. It’s about time I get proper people in Phinado.”

To make sure that the Phinado will be in sync with the WADA, the PSC has forged a partnership with University of Santo Tomas’ Institute of Physical Education and Athletics to leverage specialized equipment and expertise aimed at optimizing athlete performance and recovery.

These collaborations underscore PSC’s commitment to modernizing training methodologies and ensuring athletes have access to world-class facilities.

“Well, this is over a year already, so plans to improve our athletes’ training is actually to upgrade our facilities. If you look at the MSAS (Medical and Scientific Athlete Services), the weight training, all that is totally not acceptable. So together with Commissioner Fritz Gaston, we’re looking for a high-performance facility for our athletes,” Bachmann said.

“So we’re gonna have a memorandum if agreement with them, and then we can actually send our athletes there. The machines they have basically are for athletics, but they also have other machines that we can detect injuries and look at the bio of an athlete, and see how we can improve or strengthen these athletes.”

Aside from anti-doping measures, the PSC had also allotted adequate funding to finance the training and participation of athletes in crucial international events, especially the Paris Olympics.

Prior to the Olympians’ training camp in Metz, France courtesy of the Philippine Olympic Committee, athletes like boxing and gymnastics are always on the move for tournaments that dangle slots in the Summer Games.

“You want to improve, competition is there. Competition is abroad. High performance competition is abroad. So, you have to go there,” Bachmann said.

“You have to actually send them there to improve. You can’t just stay here forever.”

Bachmann said that he went to Tashkent last May, where he saw the facilities used during the 2024 Asian Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

“I went to Tashkent, I also saw the gymnastics facility. How they take care of their facility, what they have there in their facility. One gymnastics facility alone is this whole oval I have,” said Bachmann, referring to the event where Carlos Yulo competed.

“That’s gymnastics alone. And if you look at my gymnastics, which needs fixing. It’s a big difference and we are performing, even though the state of our facility is like that. What more if we show 110 percent support and fix our facilities for our athletes?”

Ever since being appointed as PSC chairman by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos in December 2022, the former Alaska Aces governor said they are also making sure the equipment used at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex are being tended.

“For my one year, basically, I am fixing everything. You all have to understand that there’s so much to fix from the back of us, from our employees alone here from giving athletes their allowances on time, for procurement of our needs of our athletes,” Bachmann said.

“So, those are the things I’m improving, already improving. And then, now, the facilities, some of these facilities haven’t been maintained since 2019. So, we’re all doing that for our athletes.”

“You can look at the VIP area in the Rizal Memorial in the football field. It is fixed already with the help of the NSA, and it’s all in the procurement process. The baseball field in the Rizal Memorial, that’s gonna come out soon already.”

The PSC also made some improvements in competitions such as Batang Pinoy to give a more professional feel at the grassroots level.

“Give these kids a more international feel because once we improve all these events, this will be an additional pool for our NSA (national sports association) so they can take a look at these kids,” Bachmann said.

“So it’s a win-win-win. Improve our events, Indigenous Games, Batang Pinoy, Philippine National Game and then hopefully the NSA can actually take a look and get some athletes there.”

Bachmann said he wants to utilize the facilities at New Clark City (NCC) Sports Hub for the athletes to use.

The venue has been used during the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2019 that has a track and field oval, a world-class swimming pool and condominiums that were used as an Athletes’ Village.

In fact, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority wants the NCC as the main hub for 2033 SEA Games.

“You want to avoid ghost projects, right?” he asked.

“If it’s passed on to PSC, then PSC can actually do a lot with those facilities and actually build more and make it a hosting area already for all international events. It makes sense.”

“My wishlist is to build facilities. There is swimming and there is already a track oval. I do want to have a PSC office there so we can actually go back and forth. Maybe work on the weekdays there and weekends come back here in Manila.”